Tales of Vesperia: The Remnants
by Kaizer23
Summary: Post Game. A new evil has appeared in Tecra Lumiries, and Yuri has gone missing. It's up to Brave Vesperia to find Yuri and stop this new evil before the world is yet again plunged into chaos.
1. The Missing Yuri

Introductions: This is my first attempt at a fan fiction, and to top things of, I haven't actually played the Tales of Vesperia game! So I might, no I will get a lot of things wrong. Anyway, this takes place after the events of Tales of Vesperia. Forgive me if there is some spelling or grammatical error and also sorry if the characters becomes out of character, like I said I haven't played the game but only watched walkthroughs and the movie Tales of Vesperia - First Strike (and I can't remember every single detail)…

Anyway, on to the story…

**Chapter 1: The Missing Yuri**

**City of Hope Aurnion (7:20PM)**

Flynn was busy as usual in the city of Aurnion. Guarding and defending the town was one of his worries a few months back since the event of the Adephagos, but since then, it has quieted down. Emperor Ioder has great respect over Flynn's ability and therefore was going to relieve the Commandant of his work as soon as the guilds have put a working outpost in the town.

The relationships between the guilds and the empire have gone smoothly thanks to Brave Vesperia. As Flynn does his last round around town, he can't help but think of what happened to everyone in Yuri's party. Lady Estelle is back into the castle, albeit with more freedom. She occasionally goes to Hallure to read stories to the children there. Rita on the other hand has gone of to find ways to replace blastia and has the empire funding her projects. She occasionally visits Estelle in the castle; apparently she has become good friends with the princess. Raven, Karol, Repede and Judith are apparently doing some guild work to hopefully increase the fame of the guild. According to a recent letter (which was 2 weeks ago) Flynn has received, Yuri has gone off to for a week vacation where he went, nobody knows.

As Flynn was lost in his thoughts, a voice called out to him. It was Sodia.

"Commandant!" Sodia called out to Flynn

"What is it Sodia?" Flynn asked.

"Members of Brave Vesperia wants to talk with you."

"Ok, I'll be on my way."

As Flynn heads over to his office outpost, he can't help but wonder why Brave Vesperia would want to talk to him. If it was Yuri, he would have probably just went straight ahead to him without formalities. Somehow, in the back of his mind, something's wrong.

As he entered his office, a familiar voice greeted him.

"Ah! Flynn!"

It was Karol. Along with him were Repede, Judith and Raven.

"Ah, Karol how have you been? Where's Yuri?" Flynn asked as he looked around the room for the said man.

"Well that's the reason we wanted to talk with you." Karol said.

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"Well you see," Karol began to scratch the back of his head, then started explaining, "Yuri hasn't gone back ever since his one week vacation. We were thinking that he might be here, or at the very least you might have seen him."

_Yuri has gone missing? It's not like him to make his friends worried for him. Something must have happened._ Flynn thought.

"Well did you see the man?" Judith asked noticing the lack of response.

"No, I haven't seen him at all." Flynn replied.

"Well if you do see the youth, can you tell him that Captain Karol is getting worried." Raven said as they began to exit the outpost.

"Will do."

As Flynn sat down in his chair, he looked outside and saw the star Brave Vesperia. _Hopefully nothing has happened to you Yuri._

**Hallure (5:50PM)**

Estelle has just finished her story telling to the kids and is now headed back to the carriage with Rita. It's only been recently that Rita has been joining her in her trips to Hallure for story telling and she was overjoyed.

"Seems like they all were looking forward to your story telling Estelle." Rita said as they entered the royal carriage.

Estelle happily waves back to the children as they leave the town of Hallure.

"Yeah, I'm hoping that I'll be able to publish a book and give it to these kids." Estelle said as she looks back to the town of Hallure, now disappearing from her sight as the carriage was going faster.

**Somewhere on the way to Zaphia (7:40 PM)**

Estelle began to wonder how everyone is doing; she has heard of Brave Vesperia's achievements in the last few months and has wondered when Yuri will come to visit her. The man that changed her perspective about the world and the man that saved it, a visit from him was something she was always looking forward to.

Rita on the other hand, seemed to be tinkering with something on her lap with complete concentration. Ever since the Empire has funded her research, she's been extremely busy in trying to find something to hopefully replace Blastia. She has been getting some progress, but Estelle was worried that if she put too much time on this she would eventually pass out. So whenever possible, she tries to distract Rita to hopefully relieve some of her stress.

As she looks out of the carriage, she was surprised to see Baul, with Karol, Raven, Judith and Repede flying above her. Karol was apparently trying to wave to her.

"Wait! Please stop the carriage!" Estelle called out to the driver of the carriage.

Rita was apparently too caught with her work that she didn't notice that Estelle called out to the carriage driver to stop, which given the situation caught her off guard and demanded why the carriage has just suddenly stopped in the middle of no where.

"Wha-what happened? Why did we just stop?" Rita asked, apparently oblivious to the fact that Estelle has already gone out of the carriage.

Outside of the carriage, Baul has just landed nearby and Estelle has gone off greeting Karol, Judith, Raven, and Repede (which still stays away from her to her great dismay). But the one person she was looking for was apparently no where to be seen.

"Hey guys, where's Yuri?" Estelle asked the group that has been her family in the past year.

"We were hoping that you could tell us Estelle." Karol said with a sigh.

"Why is something wrong?"

"Well you see, Yuri hasn't shown up after his week break." Karol explained. "It's been a whole 2 weeks since then and he hasn't shown up."

Rita has just gotten out of the carriage and to her surprise the members of Brave Vesperia was out there talking to Estelle.

"Oh its you guys." Rita said as she looked around for the ever sarcastic man. "Hey, where's Yuri?"

"Well it seems that Yuri has gone missing." Raven stated as apparently, they've searched every city and town but Yuri isn't in any one of them.

As the group stood there in silence, a shadow loomed above them, blocking the light of the full moon.

"Wha – a monster!" Karol was the first to realize that something was looming above them.

The monster looked like a Dragon but had a red aer covering it. It was menacing, but yet the monster seemed controlled instead of berserk. The carriage driver apparently saw the beast and started running off without the princess.

"Guys be careful! That monster has a high concentration of aer around it!" Rita shouted to everyone.

Karol was nervous with the events outcome; he hasn't actually fought against big monsters ever since he lost his blastia, so he feared that things might end badly due to their loss of power.

"Where is Yuri Lowell?" This apparently shocked everyone; the only one's they thought that could speak like that were the Entelexia. But supposedly nearly every Entelexia has already turned into a spirit.

"Hey Judith, is that an Entelexia?" Estelle asked.

"No… He doesn't feel like one." Judith replied. Judith then turned to the monster that was asking where they're friend was. "Why are you asking where are friend is?"

"I've been given orders by my master to eliminate the one that wielded the Feather Blade to destroy the Adephagos." The monster said with complete formality. "I ask again, where is Yuri Lowell?"

"Well, you heard we're friends of the one you call Yuri Lowell," Raven stated in a casual tone, "So what make ya think that we're going to tell you where he is?"

"Well if that's the case, then I'll just have to force it out of all of you!" The monster then roared and began to lunge towards to the group.

Everyone jumped out of the way, knowing this situation wouldn't end well, everyone took out there respective weapons. As they attacked the monster, there weapons were bouncing off not doing even a scratch. Rita still hasn't managed to master her invention to replace blastia and the only spell that she could cast as of now was Fire Ball, but even then it was much weaker than before. The Fire Ball was much too weak to penetrate the red colored aer but it was the only one doing any signs of damage.

"Is that all you've got!" The monster seems to be gloating. "Surely your power must be equivalent of Duke or Yuri to have helped defeat the Adephagos! Or are have you all lost your strength after you lost your blastia?"

"Damn…" Raven managed to say after dodging another swipe from the monster. "He just seems to be playing with us! We can't even properly damage him!"

Seeing that physical attacks are not working, Estelle called out the power of Ifrit, Gnome, Sylph and Undine to aid her.

Ifrit summoned a great fire elemental storm that covered the monster, Gnome then came out of the ground and made the rock that made impact with the monster to explode, Sylph then caught the enemy in a cyclone and Undine proceeded to cover the enemy with a tidal wave made out of aer. Estelle then used her remaining strength and charged towards the enemy in a blinding light.

"Ultimate Elemental!"

As the light exploded, the monster though harmed, remained unfazed. The monster apparently received several injuries but only minor ones.

The monster then stopped attacking and stared intently on the eyes of Estelle.

"So this is the power of the Child of the Full Moon…" the monster said aloud more to himself than anyone. "Despite that power, Yuri Lowell is still the greater threat…"

The monster then flew up higher and said one last thing before flying off to the northern direction, "Don't think this'll be the last you see of me."

Karol collapsed to his feet as the threat left; he's never been this scared ever since the events of the Adephagos it was because Yuri was there. He believed that so long as Yuri is there, Brave Vesperia can take on anything. Now that he's no where to be seen, the courage he had as boss was beginning to waver.

Estelle also collapsed to her feet, apparently from exhaustion. Despite that was her strongest attack, the opponent seemed totally unfazed by it. Theoretically, since she's the only one that can use magic efficiently ever since Blastias was destroyed, she might very well be the most powerful being in the whole of Tecra Lumiries. If that monster was totally unfazed by it, then not even the Empire can take an enemy like that. Her real worry however lies on where Yuri actually is. The enemy was not even aiming at her despite that she could pose a real threat.

Judith was also thinking the same thing. Why were these monsters or people, looking for Yuri? All he did was use the gathered power of all Blastias and spirits to destroy the Adephagos using Vesperia No. 1. Was there something more that caused the disappearance of Yuri?

"Damn it!" Rita was shouting at the top of her lungs. "Where the heck is Yuri? Why did he have to disappear at a time like this!"

Author Notes:

This is my first fan fiction so take it easy on me. English isn't at all my first language so forgive my mistakes. And as stated before, I haven't actually played the game but only watched walkthroughs, and the movie Tales of Vesperia - The First Strike.

I'm pretty sure I did a horrible job at the battle that took place. If you don't know what Estelle just did; it's her 2nd Mystic Arte in the PS3 Version. Since I'm horrible with fight scenes, expect to see very little detailed battle scenes until I can improve my descriptions for it.

Reviews are highly appreciated and constructive criticism is welcomed.


	2. The Search Begins

**Chapter 2: The Search Begins**

**The Capital Zaphia (10:00PM)**

The members of Brave Vesperia along with Rita and Estelle are now at the room of the said princess thinking of what to do next. The monster hasn't shown a real threat to anyone yet (aside from Yuri), so the problem is not so important that it would worry the citizens. Yet this threat could very well cause panic and disorder among the people if they were to find out that not even the famed Brave Vesperia can take it down. The people looked up to the members of Brave Vesperia, as they saved the entire world from the Adephagos. Luckily, the incident has only been known to Brave Vesperia, Emperor Ioder and Flynn.

Estelle gave off a huge sigh. She couldn't help but think what has happened to Yuri. It's like a repeat of what happened when she left the castle. She initially left the castle to look for Flynn and warn him of danger, now it's Yuri they have to warn about danger. The only difference from that incident with this incident is that they have no idea where Yuri is, they're not even sure if he knows he's in danger.

At this point, everyone sighed, they had no idea what to do. Usually Yuri would have made a plan by now; with him gone they had no idea what to do or where to begin.

Karol decided that he should take the role of a leader since he's the appointed boss of Brave Vesperia. Even though he was uneasy about the current events just like everybody inside the room, he felt that he needs to do it since Yuri would have probably done the same, that and everyone needs something to elevate there spirits.

"Alright then…" Karol spoke up and broke the silence; he then coughed as if getting ready to make an announcement. "Starting tomorrow, we of Brave Vesperia are going to begin searching for Yuri!"

"Anyone against this, please raise your hand."

Raven raised his hand and said, "I'm not against this, but I do have a question."

"What's that?" Karol asked

"Where are we going to begin searching?" Raven said "I mean we've checked every place that we went in our journey, and Yuri isn't in any one of them."

"Well…"

*Woof! Woof*

"Ah! That's right! When we go to an unknown area, we could ask Repede if he could smell Yuri!" Karol said confidently, "And anywhere that Repede picks up the scent of Yuri, we could ask the people near these unknown areas if they've seen him.

"Well at least we're getting somewhere." Judith said. "Ok then, count me in."

"Alright, we're leaving tomorrow." Karol then went out of the princess's room and headed outside towards where Yuri lived in the lower quarters. Repede and Raven accompanied him.

"Hey Judith, can I come along too." Estelle asked Judith. If Yuri is indeed missing, she'd want to look for him herself.

"Sure Estelle, but shouldn't you tell Emperor Ioder where your going?"

"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't allow that since he'd want you here for your well being." Rita replied in place of Estelle. "Well I'm going with you all. I want to give that guy a piece of my mind. Also, I hope to find out how that monster was using such condensed aer as a barrier."

"I'll be coming!" Estelle said despite Emperor Ioder might be against this.

"Then I'll just go tell Karol that we'd have to leave a little earlier for tomorrow." Judith said as she left the room.

Estelle then walked to her window and looked at the night time sky.

_We'll definitely find you Yuri._

**Zaphia (4:00AM)**

As expected, when they left with Baul along with Estelle the empire was in panic. The tweedle brigade was apparently the ones guarding Estelle during that night, so one could say that luck was on their side. Emperor Ioder, who witnessed the events, only sighed and waved at the leaving party. He knew he couldn't stop her despite that he said that to leave it to someone else. But internally he gave a sigh of relief since Estelle has finally begun making her own decisions.

"Ok guys where to?" Karol asked the group.

"And here I thought that you had an idea where to begin." Rita stated in a sarcastic tone.

"I only stated what I really thought at that time! I have no idea where to actually begin!" Karol replied. He was a bit disappointed that despite they left the capital, they still hadn't decided where they should start looking for Yuri.

"Well, let's begin at Shizontania." Raven stated to the group.

"Shizontania?" Karol asked. He never heard of the town before and he certainly doesn't remember ever going there with Yuri.

"Shizontania was a town that Flynn was assigned too a few years back." Estelle answered Karol. "But due to a certain incident, the town was abandoned when the barrier blastia broke."

"I don't see why we should go there though." Karol said still a bit confused.

"Well you see, Yuri has been to Shizontania before." Raven said with a bit of pride knowing something the others didn't. "When he was still an Imperial Knight."

Rita, Estelle and Karol coughed and hacked at the statement. Yuri a Knight? That was a bit unbelievable. Yuri being the impolite person he is, and his tendency to get to fights with just about anybody makes it hard, if not, impossible to believe he was a Knight before, although he did mention that he was one of the knights before but they merely thought he was joking. It was hard to tell after all since he had a good poker face.

As everyone hacked, coughed and laughed at Raven's previous statement Estelle remembered something.

"Oh wait!" Estelle said when realization hit her. "Flynn mentioned a few years back before the ceremony, about Yuri! I couldn't ask who Yuri was back then since the guards were taking me back!"

After a bit of thought Karol decided that they should head to Shizontania. After all, it's one of the few places they haven't checked yet.

"Well it's decided, lets head to Shizontania!" Karol stated with the complete confidence of a leader.

**The abandoned city Shizontania (9:00 AM)**

The city was clearly abandoned. Dusts and broken buildings littered the area, the wall of the city has fallen, and the barrier has completely fallen apart, much to Rita's dismay. As the group walked around following Repede, the dog then noticed something and began to run off towards the streets.

"Repede! Wait!" Karol shouted while running after Repede.

When they finally caught up to Repede, the party was shocked to find two female Imperial Knights patting Repede. From what they could tell, the two knights were twins, with orange hair and yellow colored eyes. The only notable difference between the twins (if I may so be blunt) was there bust size. Raven was the first to react.

"Who might you be my fine lady?" Raven said in his flirting tone as he approaches the 'bigger one' (as a note, they are the same height).

"Who – Who are you?" One of the twins asked him.

"Well I'm –" Raven was cut off from whatever he was planning to say when Judith hit him with her spear causing him to fall towards the side a few feet away from there current location.

"Forgive the action of our member." Karol said apologizing for a member of Brave Vesperia's action. Since he was the leader of the guild, he had to take responsibility. "Who might you guys be? I've never seen Repede being friendly with someone we've just met."

"Wait, you own Repede?" The 'bigger one' asked Karol.

"N – No! He belongs to a friend of ours whom we're looking for." Karol explained. "How do you know about Repede?"

"Well I guess we should first introduce ourselves, I'm Hisca Aiheap and she's my sister Chastel Aiheap." The Knight explained. "Who are you guys?"

"Well I'm Karol, the leader of Brave Vesperia, the one with the goggles is Rita Mordio, the Kritya is Judith, the old man is Raven and she's Estelle." Karol explained to the Knight, he purposely avoided talking about the part that Estelle is actually a princess, knowing the chaos they caused in the capital, they might as well have bounties in their heads by now.

"Well to answer why we know Repede, It's because he was the mascot of our squad a few years back, and he has the pipe of our former captain." Hisca explained.

"During the events that happened here, Yuri was given Repede when Lambert died." Chastel said after the explanation given by her sister.

"What are you guys doing here anyway?" Rita asked

"Well we were originally sent here to check on a mysterious light that was reported a few days ago and since we were in the vicinity, we came here to pay respect to our former captain who died to protect this town." Chastel said with a hint of sadness in her tone.

"Ah… ok" Karol said deciding that he shouldn't delve in further to the matter, "Oh can I ask you guys, have you guys seen Yuri?"

"Yuri Lowell?" Hisca asked. "Well we saw him a week and a half ago, when we were in our post, a town not far from here."

"He said that he was going to pay respects to Captain Niren in this town." Chastel continued for her sister.

"Hmm… I guess we can look for clues here." Karol said facing Estelle and the group.

Raven having apparently recovered from the slight beat up, was now with the party discussing there plans of action.

"Why are you guys looking for Yuri anyway?" Hisca asked Karol. She was a bit curious as to what happened with Yuri after he left the Imperial Knights. "Are you friends of his?"

"Well you see… Yuri has gone missing." Karol bluntly stated.

"Why would you be worried about him?" Chastel asked remembering Yuri's feat of great strength, and that the only reason he said that he joined the Knights was to put his strength to good use. "Yuri is pretty strong."

"Well you see, someone is after him and we want to warn him and help him against this someone." Estelle replied.

Karol then approached Repede who was still sitting next to the two knights. "Can you smell where Yuri is?"

Repede nodded in understanding and began to lead them towards the outskirt of town. The two imperial knights waved them farewell and headed back to their posts in the opposite direction.

**Outskirts of Shizontania (10:30 AM)**

After passing a forest which was brimming with life, and fighting a few monsters along the way, the group approached an odd looking castle, distorted to the point that it looked a lot like a face of a monster.

Repede led them to the door of the castle; he then stopped in front of traces of blood and a torn black cloth. A fight seemed to have occurred here. There were sword marks on the ground and on the wooden door, aside from that there were huge scratches on the wall and door meaning that at least one human and one monster was fighting here. The traces of blood in the other hand were dried up, but one could tell that this has happened recently not one that was a few years back, but a few days back.

"Could this be… Yuri's?" Estelle asked aloud, hoping that nothing bad happened to him.

"Who's there?" A man's voice called out.

The man that approached them was another knight.

"What are you guy's doing here? It's dangerous here!" The knight was apparently trying to warn them of the area they're currently in.

"Umm… We're sorry sir; we're just looking for a friend of ours." Karol explained.

Repede then barked and approached the knight.

"Huh?" The knight looked at Repede and with a bit of thought, "Wait, that pipe… You're Repede!"

"Repede? You know that guy too?" Rita and Karol shouted in disbelief.

**Author's Notes:**

I'm not actually quite sure if Estelle, Karol, Judith and Rita actually know if Yuri was an Imperial Knight.

Since this is my first fan fiction, and my first serious attempt at writing a story, I'll be correcting and editing previous chapters when I find the time or if someone points out something. I'll try to update as often as I can, and have it completed. After all, I don't want to have my first story ever written incomplete…

The new place and characters that you see here are the characters from the movie Tales of Vesperia First Strike. They're the supporting characters in the movie.

Flynn will make an appearance again later on; I just haven't decided how he would appear before the party.

Thank you to those who inputted a review. They really motivate me as a writer.

Corrections and clarifications would be helpful!


	3. Heading East

**Chapter 3: Heading East**

**Lake Ruins: Shizontonia Outskirts (10:50AM)**

Repede was described to not get along with strangers by Yuri; Estelle has always tried to get the affection of the said dog, but to no avail. Yet again, Repede is approaching another stranger (to the party at least), whom also recognizes the former's presence.

"That pipe… You're Repede!" the knight said.

"You know that guy too!" Rita and Karol shouted in unison.

"Yes, are you his owner?" the knight asked Karol.

"Umm… No, he belongs to friend of ours whom we're looking for." Karol replied. "Who are you, and how do you know Repede?"

"I'm Jurgis a Knight posted a town not far from here." The man Jurgis answered. "Who are you guys and what are you doing here?"

"Well I'm Karol, the girl with the goggles is Rita, the old man is Raven, the Krityan is Judith and she's Estelle." Karol explained to the knight. "We're here trying to look for Yuri a friend of ours."

"Yuri? Yuri Lowell?" Jurgis asked. He couldn't actually believe that Yuri would have these kinds of friends. His first expression on Yuri when he was in the same squad with him is that he's someone that loves fighting and plays no regards to the rules so long as the end justifies the means. "He's gone missing?"

"Yeah, by any chance, have you seen him?" Judith asked. "He's been missing for a whole week now."

Rita in the other hand, began to scan the area with Raven. She has heard of a blastia that went berserk and started releasing a huge amount of aer in this general location and started investigating since the aer concentration in this area was below normal.

"I did see him when he came to visit the post of my town." Jurgis replied. "He said he was going to come and visit Shizontania and pay respects to Captain Niren."

"Umm… If I may ask," Estelle said facing the knight. "But you said it's dangerous here why is that?"

"Well, a bright white light appeared here a few days ago and I came here to investigate." Jurgis explained. "According to some witnesses, they heard a fight occurring with a swordsman and a monster within the forest, after a few moments a bright light appeared. Once the bright light dispersed, a white streak headed of to the eastern direction."

"Whatever happened here must have used up a lot of aer." Rita said as she came back from her investigation. "The aer concentration in this area is far too low."

"Captain are you done with your investigation?" Chastel Aiheap appeared from the forest along with her sister Hisca. "Oh, its you guys."

"You're from the same post?" Raven asked the twins.

"Yeah, our squad mostly stayed together." Hisca explained. "The only one's that moved on was Flynn and Yuri."

"How did your investigation go?" Jurgis asked facing Hisca.

"Aer concentration is also low in the town and we found traces of two huge monster footprints." Hisca explained.

"The monster footprints aren't found in our records so we can't say what it is." Chastel continued for her sister.

"Alright then, we'll head back to our post." Jurgis said facing the twins. "Hisca do a follow up report and have someone send it to the capital."

Jurgis then faced the party, "I'm sorry we couldn't be of any help. We'll be heading back to our post, please take care of yourselves and I pray that you'll be able to find Yuri."

With that, the captain bid them farewell and headed out of the ruins.

"It seems that whatever happened here, Yuri may have fought with it, as for the outcome of the battle, we probably won't be able to know until we see the monster or Yuri himself." Raven pointed out.

"And it seems Repede can't smell the scent of Yuri anywhere else aside from this area of the ruins." Rita said as she observed Repede trying to smell the scent of Yuri, "Our only clue is that the light that witnesses saw which headed into the eastern direction."

"That's a start, but let's stop by the first town we see on the way, if any other people saw the light." Estelle added.

"Ok then, let's head back to Baul." Judith said as she started walking back to the forest.

**Somewhere on the way East (12:50PM)**

After having their lunch while flying on the way east, each party member had their own thoughts in the outcome of their first investigation.

Karol had apparently taken the role of leader of the group, he was no longer quite hesitant on taking the role. After all, he's the boss of the Guild Brave Vesperia. Karol has been on the look out with Estelle for any town that they could see on the way here. Surprisingly the area below them is a desert, but since they're flying at such high heights, the heat isn't affecting them that much.

Estelle was on look out with Karol, she was anxious to find more clues on where Yuri could be, by the look of their first clue, he seemed have been injured. Despite the disappearance of Blastia, she can still cast spells albeit, in lower strength. Estelle however decided that it's not the time for regret and indecisiveness so she looks out for any town in their sight of vision in a serious manner. Given it was such a small thing, it seemed odd for someone to have such a serious look on their face when all their looking for was a town.

Rita was pretty much tinkering with her replacement for her blastia. Since the past battle with the monster, she dedicated herself on finding a way to make it more efficient so she can contribute more to a battle. Another reason for her complete dedication is that she's too afraid on looking down. She's not scared of flying only if it's on low heights, but when it comes to high heights, the flying heights of Baul, that's when she becomes scared. Of course, she refuses to admit this.

Judith and Raven apparently was talking about something in the back. They seemed to be talking about the investigation of the knights, and the odd concentration of aer in Shizontania and the monster they previously fought. When Karol came to ask what they're talking about, they divert the attention of the conversation to something else. Rita already had a slight clue of what they're talking about but refuses to talk anymore about the matter when Karol came to ask.

Silence once again returned to the group, things have gotten more depressing since the disappearance of Yuri. As the silence became near unbearable to the point that even Karol would begin shouting on the top of his lungs, Repede barked and Estelle began shouting that there was a town below them.

**Town in the Middle of the Desert (1:30PM)**

Once they landed in a safe distance away from the town in the middle of the desert, Karol was surprised to see a familiar face once they reached the town. It was Nan.

"Nan! What are you doing here?" Karol shouted as he ran closer to the said girl.

"Oh its you Karol… I came here to do some guild business about a monster that appeared here several days ago." Nan explained. "But it already ran away by the time I got here. According to the town people, a man with long black hair was the one that defeated it."

Nan was a member of the Hunting Blades Guild. The Hunting Blades Guild basically accepts any request that involves defeating a monster. In the eyes of the guild, any monster is considered to be evil.

"A man with long black hair?" Estelle asked as she has finally caught up to Karol. _Could it be Yuri?_

"Yeah, I wanted to meet the man who defeated the monster, due to description I thought it'd be Yuri but whoever that person is, he already let town." Nan explained.

Raven who was the slowest to arrive due to his self proclaimed old age (35 years old), was heavily panting earlier but has finally caught his breath and asked a question, "Does anyone in this town remember what kind of monster is it? Does it by any chance have red aer surrounding it?"

"Yeah according to the reports. How did you know?" Nan asked.

"Did this man by any chance fought using his left hand?" Judith asked, she wanted to make sure of the details.

"According to the towns people he fought with both, not only that, I heard the man warded the enemy off on his own." Nan answered.

"He single handedly defeated that monster?" Rita asked in disbelief. She knew that man could do things that people thought was impossible like coming back alive after a fall from the tower of Zaude, and now he actually defeated a monster that not even together they could beat.

"Anyway, I'm heading back to Hallure, I've got nothing to do here and there has been a lot of requests in the guild lately." Nan said as she began to exit the town. "See ya Karol."

"See ya Nan." Karol said as he waved goodbye to Nan.

"Well I guess this would explain why the monster that we fought was looking for Yuri." Judith said to the group. "But what power does Yuri have that would make those monsters fear him?"

"He's definitely human," Raven said as he scratches his head to think of answers. "He still has Vesperia No.1 right Rita? Maybe that's why they fear him."

"Even if he has that, him alone wouldn't be able to provide enough energy alone without blastia to provide enough power to pierce the red aer armor that the monster uses, and inflict multiple wounds." Rita said as she began to think of a logical explanation of how Yuri single handedly defeated the monster.

Estelle then noticed that Nan was heading back to the town, she was apparently running with her weapon out.

"What's wrong Nan?" Estelle asked. "Did you forget something?"

"No the monster has returned!" As she said this, an explosion was heard inside the town, when everyone looked at the general location they saw a monster with red aer covering it. The monster had a lot of wounds, apparently it has come back for Yuri and is trying to find where the man is hiding. The monster though similar to the one they fought on the way to Zaphias, was not the same one. The main difference between the two was this monster seemed more berserk than the other, had 4 wings instead of two and had one horn, though it was broken.

Karol hoped that they'll be enough to take it down.

**Author's Notes:**

Despite that I said I would try to have as little battle scenes as possible, but this is Tales of Vesperia we're talking about, so battles would come sooner or later.

And as I've said before I haven't actually played the game so I will got a lot of details wrong, though I'll try to do as much research as I can before I would post some things based on the game.

Since I don't actually have an idea where Shizontania would lie in the actual map of Tecra Lumiries, the new towns that I mention here (or if I decided to choose an actual town from the map or make it up) would probably have no name until later.

I'll try to update in a weekly basis. This is my first fan fiction after all so I'm going to do my best to have this as a completed story.

Reviews and constructive criticism would be helpful.


	4. Chaos in the Desert

**Chapter 4: Chaos in the Desert**

**Town in the Middle of the Desert (1:45PM)**

The monster looked very similar to the previous monster they fought, back on the way to Zaphias. The only difference being is that it has one of its eyes scarred, its body was covered in several wounds and its only horn in its head was broken. The feeling that the monster was giving off was anger, so a battle seemed to be unavoidable.

"YURI! WHERE ARE YOU YURI LOWELL!" the monster was shouting as he fired another fireball from his mouth to a nearby building.

The town was in a state of panic, the knights and guild members that were stationed there was in a state of chaos. Neither side could decide what to do at this point. Seeing the state of chaos Karol acted fast.

"The imperial knights, you guys should handle the evacuation! The guild members, look for anyone that needs help in the evacuation! We of Brave Vesperia will handle the monster!" Karol commanded to the guilds and knights.

Surprisingly no one questioned his authority and went on there way to do what they were assigned to do. Everyone else was impressed at the command that Karol showed.

"Wow, that was some show of leadership Karol." Judith commented.

"Yeah, you've changed Karol." Nan said smiling at Karol.

"Ah it was nothing." Karol said blushing, and scratching the back of his head. "Anyway, let's get that monster away from here!"

Karol, Raven, Estelle, Judith, Repede and Nan approached the monster with their weapons out. The monster, apparently sensing that the humans that stopped before him was actually going to try and take him down, he diverted his attention from destroying buildings to them.

"What do you want humans." The monster asked them, though it was still evident the monster that was still rather mad.

"Stop what you're doing or else we'll be the one's to force you to stop!" Estelle shouted to the monster.

"Wait… Are you the friends of Yuri Lowell?" The monster asked Estelle, sensing the familiar scent within the people before him.

"Yes! Why do you want to cause our friend harm?" Estelle said.

"I've been ordered by my master to eliminate the one that wielded the Feather Blade that destroyed the Adephagos." The monster replied. "Answer my question or you shall face my wrath: where is Yuri Lowell?"

This monster is definitely working together with the other monster they've fought before. Was there something special with Yuri that someone would want to eliminate him?

"Even if we knew we wouldn't tell you!" Karol shouted to the monster. "We are his friends after all."

"Then so be it." The monster replied. He then fired a fire ball at the general location of the party.

"Looks like we'll have to battle this guy." Karol said, he was still scared but he decided to fight nonetheless.

"Don't be too nervous Karol," Nan said to Karol. "This guy isn't as strong as he used to be! He's seriously injured."

The monster then fired another fireball at the direction of Karol and Nan, splitting them. Raven fired several arrows to the monster, though they all bounced off due to the red aer that was acting like a barrier.

"Damn, even if he's weakened, that red aer is still acting like a barrier against any physical attack!" Raven shouted as he jumped from one area to the next, dodging each fireball that was aimed at him. If this was any other occasion, Raven would have been fully tired after his first few jumps, but since this is a life-or-death situation, he kept on going without signs of tiring.

Judith then jumped from a building behind the monster and stabbed her spear into the red aer. Surprisingly, it pierced the red aer, but it only managed to graze the monster's skin. She was then shook off the monsters back, her spear still left at where it made contact.

This gave Rita an idea.

"Estelle! Can you lend me the strength of the spirits?" Rita asked, as she put her make shift blastia replacement on her left wrist.

"Umm… ok." Estelle said as she approached Rita.

Estelle then held Rita's left wrist and began channeling the power to the make shift blastia.

The monster however noticed the concentration of energy from the two girls and diverted his attention there. The monster then let out a stream of fire to the location of Estelle and Rita.

"Estelle, Rita! Watch out!" Karol shouted to them.

_Crap it's heading this way! _Rita thought as she closed her eyes for the coming impact.

As the two waited for the inevitable impact of the flame, nothing came. When they looked up, Flynn was there using his shield to guard against the stream of fire the enemy was letting out.

"Flynn!"

"Lady Estelle! Please move to a safer location!" Flynn said as his shield begins to melt from the extreme heat.

Estelle nodded, along with Rita moved to a safer location to commence what they were originally planning to do.

Seeing Rita and Estelle has moved out of the way, Flynn then removes his shield and jumps to the right to avoid the flame stream. Karol was also in the area where Flynn jumped to he then gave Flynn an Apple Gel to hopefully heal the burn he got from shielding the princess.

While everyone focused on keeping the monster at bay, Rita and Estelle began what they started. After a few seconds, the makeshift blastia has begun glowing a bright green. Rita, satisfied with the energy gathering within her makeshift blastia, she then began chanting the spell aiming at where Judith's spear was stuck on the monster.

"O righteous will, let fall thy sword of lightning upon those who bear fault... Thunder Blade!"

Using the spear as a sort of lightning rod, the lightning bypassed the red aer, shocking the monster to the ground. The red aer then dispersed, and the monster fell to the ground with a thud. The makeshift blastia also broke due to the stress.

The monster was still alive though, but it was fatally wounded. Seeing the monster won't last long, Flynn approached it and began to ask questions.

"Why are you after Yuri Lowell?" Flynn asked the dying monster. "And who's your master?"

"We are after… Yuri Lowell the wielder… of the feather blade because he's a hindrance to our master's plan…" the monster then smiled and continued. "As for our master, we would never reveal it…"

As the monster said those words, the monster then stopped breathing and lay on the ground motionless.

Seeing the destruction in the town, Estelle went around town and healed the injured. She apparently wasn't as tired as before when they fought a similar monster.

As Flynn ponders and began to think of the possible people after Yuri, he was disturbed from his thoughts when Karol, Raven, Judith and Repede came to him.

"Flynn! What are you doing here?" Karol asked. "Aren't you stationed in Aurnion?"

"Well I came here due to the monster sightings in this area, since it could be my lead to find some answers…" Flynn replied. "…and since Lady Estelle is here, that means you were the guys that took her from the castle…"

"Ah… Well, she wanted to come with us to look for Yuri." Karol said.

"Anyway, what answers were you looking for when you planned to come here?" Raven asked the Commandant.

"Well I've been sent by Emperor Ioder to assist with the look for Yuri Lowell." Flynn replied. "Yuri is a good friend of mine and there's no way I won't help on looking for him."

This was well known to everyone. After all when Yuri fell to the ocean from on top of Zaude, he sent ships to search for his friend despite that the chances of finding him alive was very low.

**Town in the middle of the Desert (5:00PM)**

Everyone then started to help the town people. There were no casualties, but a lot of property destruction was done by the monster. Flynn commanded the knights and helped direct there efforts, Karol and Raven on the other hand helped on the guild side. Nan headed back to Hallure after helping with the guild efforts. Estelle tended to the wounded, while Rita and Judith examined the monster.

The monster that they defeated eventually faded away much to Rita's dismay, but they were surprise to find that there was some sort of core at the remains of the monster similar to Raven's blastia heart. The core however was shattered, leaving only one fragment of what looks like an apatheia. Whatever it was originally seemed to have self destructed the moment the monster died.

"This fragment looks a lot like an apatheia." As Judith picks up the strange looking fragment. "But it's definitely not one, but only similar."

"By the looks of it, we can safely say that this is what was manipulating the aer to become a barrier." Rita said while she takes the fragment from Judith. "I'll do some more research with this fragment, while I create another makeshift Blastia."

After everyone was doing there respective responsibilities, they then gather at the Inn to talk about there next course of action.

"Well, according to the town people, the man that single handedly warded the monster off the first time headed off to the south-east direction." Karol said in front of the group.

"Well looks like that's our next direction." Raven said, he then looks outside at the setting sun. "But we'll have to rest for today."

"But we can't do that!" Estelle was deeply worried for Yuri, "Those monsters are still after him! And he could still be injured!"

"Estelle." Judith approached Estelle and sat next to her. "We can't look for Yuri at the condition we're in… And you should have more trust in Yuri."

It's true that searching at the condition they're in would prove fruitless as if they come to contact with those monsters again, they'd probably won't be able to win the battle. They were lucky today since the monster was already injured, but fighting a monster that isn't would be like trying to fight against a monster wolf with a tree branch.

Flynn then entered the room where they're in, he's apparently done with his duties as a Commandant for today. "I'll be joining you guys on your quest to look for Yuri. I've been given orders by Emperor Ioder to assist for the search for Yuri and find out what these monsters are after."

Rita, who has been silent the whole time tinkering and analyzing the fragment, decided to finally talk. "Well since it's decided, let's take a rest in this town and stock up on items."

The day has finally ended, but everyone was still unsure of what this new threat has planned.

**Author Notes:**

This is of course a tales of fan fiction, so I figured battles will have to come in every now and then.

Flynn has finally joined the party! Despite that I'm basing this somewhat in the PS3 version, Patty Fleur will probably not make an appearance in this fan fiction. Though that may change at any random time.

Oh and about the town's name in the previous chapter, I took the translation from the aselia wiki as well as the wikipedia translation… So until I research again, I'll leave it as is.

I appreciate all your reviews and corrections, and please continue to do so in this chapter!


	5. The Fragment and Aer

**Chapter 5: The Fragment and Aer**

**Town in the Middle of the Desert (8:00AM)**

Karol has just woken up from his sleep, given the events in the day previously, it was no surprise that everyone woke up late, with the exception of Flynn. Flynn was out and about, managing things before he and the party leaves to look for Yuri.

"Ah! Flynn! You're up already?" Karol said as he saw Flynn from the Inn window.

"Yeah." Flynn replied, while he gave of a signed permit for a letter bound for Zaphias. "I'll be managing things around here before we leave for our next destination."

"Ok." Karol said as he packs his stuff. "I'm going to wake up the rest and head for some breakfast."

Surprisingly, everyone slept well and was fully energized for the day ahead of them. The party decided to have breakfast before leaving. If Flynn was going to cook for them, they'd probably never reach Yuri.

After an uneventful breakfast, Judith went ahead to get Baul while everyone waited a few meters away from town. Rita has been busy tinkering with the fragment and her makeshift blastia, if she was left alone, she probably wouldn't have eaten her breakfast. Raven in the other hand, had several wounds as he was beaten up to prevent him from embarrassing the group and flirting with every lady he sees.

As Baul arrived along with Judith, they headed off to the south-east direction.

**Heading South-East (9:30AM)**

Estelle and Karol were on the look out for any trace of Yuri or even footprints in the sand to hopefully find some more clues where Yuri might be. Flynn, Judith and Raven were talking about some other things which they refuse to tell others about. Repede has been by Rita's side observing whatever the latter was doing. Everyone had something in their mind, so it was pretty much quiet during the ride on Baul.

After talking with Flynn and Raven about matters that may have occurred to Yuri, she then approached Rita who had a determined look on her face.

"Found anything about our mysterious fragment?" Judith asked.

"Not much." Rita said as she continued to do some more analysis on the fragment and along with her makeshift blastia. "What I can tell so far is that it can manipulate aer like a blastia, aside from that I still can't find anything else…"

As time passed by, Karol then notices a ruin in the desert that had footprints heading in to it. Even Repede was barking, it didn't take long for the others to put two and two together that Yuri might be in there.

**In Front of the Desert Ruins (11:25AM)**

After landing Baul a safe distance away from the ruins, they proceeded to head inside the ruins. The inside was a mess. Rita then started going about trying to analyze the walls of the ruins, for her it seemed like Christmas has come early and she's now all over the place analyzing, and figuring out what the pictures on the wall means.

The ruin has just recently become visible as the wind seemed to be blowing the sands that covered it.

"Umm… Rita, this isn't the time you know." Karol said, though his words were having little effect on the mage. "We're looking for Yuri…"

"Yeah, yeah. Just give me a few more minutes, I'm almost done deciphering these pictures." Rita said.

Flynn, Estelle, Judith, Repede and Raven went on ahead to find more clues on where Yuri could be. Though the footsteps leading here were fresh, they can't say that whoever went in here has left already.

"I wonder why Yuri didn't call us to help him." Estelle asked suddenly. "We are his friends after all…"

"Yeah…" Flynn said quietly. "But he just seems to be one to shoulder all the responsibilities, it's like he's still acting like a lone wolf."

"Even though, I feel that there must be something as to why he disappeared, he even left Repede with us." Raven said as he observed Repede lead the way. "…that and he not only brought his katana, but also Vesperia No.2."

After a few minutes of walking, they ended up on a stair that leads deeper into the ruins. They were about to go onwards when they realized that the aer concentration in the area was too high, to the point that it was color red. So they decided to wait for Rita, and Karol.

"Hey Raven." Estelle said facing Raven. "Was Yuri acting odd before he went to his one week break?"

"Well, now that you mention it…" Raven said as he scratches his chin. "He seemed to go out for long walks alone without Repede every now and then. Then it got more frequent, until he asked for a week break."

"He may already have noticed that something was after him." Flynn said as he looks towards the roof of the ruin.

"Knowing him, he probably felt that since it's his problem…" Judith said looking at the approaching figures of Karol and Rita. "… he should solve it on his own."

"Yeah. But isn't it technically also our problem since we helped him beat the Adephagos?" Estelle said as they continued on down the stairs now with Rita and Karol.

"Unless that's only half of the story." Rita said. "Something may have happened to Yuri when he wielded the Vesperia No.1 to destroy the Adephagos. It's only a copy of Dien Nomos, not the actual thing. So it's not that hard to imagine that something may have gone wrong when he wielded it."

"If something did go wrong, what could have happened that made him the target of those monsters?" Karol asked.

"Well whatever it is, we can find out as soon as we ask the man himself." Judith said.

The pathway that they're in was pretty much straightforward. There were no multiple hallways that littered the ruins as to confuse them, and oddly enough it was dimly lighted by the small rays of the sun that pierces the ruin walls. As they continued onwards, the concentration of aer was becoming more and more concentrated to the point that it was somewhat affecting Rita's makeshift blastia and the fragment with her.

"Rita! The fragment and your blastia! They're reacting!" Karol said as he noticed the light that was coming out of the mage's pocket.

When Rita took out the fragment, the red aer around them started clustering closer and closer to the fragment to the point that Rita dropped it, and everyone ran for cover.

Once the aer was absorbed into the fragment, the aer around them started to turn color green signaling that aer concentration is now back to normal.

"Wha – What just happened?" Raven asked as he along with the others approached the fragment.

Rita then picked up the fragment and put it closer to her makeshift blastia. "hmm… could it be that… this fragment can manipulate, store and absorb aer?"

Rita then broke a small piece of the fragment and put it to the core of her makeshift blastia. Then she looked around, and laid her eyes on Karol.

"Wha – What is it?" Karol asked, despite he knew what's going to happen next.

The events that happened next could be called a moment of 'happiness' and 'despair' depending on the person you talked to. Happiness for Rita since she finally created a somewhat workable version of a blastia that doesn't react badly to high concentrations of aer, and despair for Karol as he was nearly charred to a crisp. Well, it's a good thing Estelle was a healer with or without blastia.

"Why did you have to hit me Rita!" Karol shouted at Rita, whom apparently, is not showing any sign of remorse.

"Well you're the one right next to me and the second most easiest target." Rita said as she does a few more checks with her makeshift blastia.

"Anyway, let's keep going." Estelle said as she finished healing Karol. "We need to hurry, we don't know what's in this ruins."

After walking for what seemed like hours (which has only been 45 minutes), the party arrived at a wide hall. There was a hole on the roof that let sunlight in, along with sand. There were several statues, but most of which have been broken by someone. The one thing that stood out the most to the party was the broken katana that Repede was sniffing at, and next to it, two similar broken fragments that Rita has.

"This katana…" Flynn said as he approached where Repede was sniffing. "It's Yuri's!"

There was a blood trail leading from the katana, deeper into the ruins. So if the katana did belong to Yuri, he must be pretty badly injured, that and he's pursuing something further in.

"We've got to hurry!" Estelle said as she motioned everyone to start running and follow her.

As they ran onwards onto another long hallway, no one said anything but prepared there weapons for the worst-case scenario. Once they reached the end of the hallway, they reached yet another wide hall. There, they see Yuri holding onto Vesperia No.2, with light emitting from the said weapon similar to the feather blade but in a small form. Yuri also had a deep wound right above the right side of his hip. He was clutching it to prevent anymore blood from coming out. He was barely standing, yet he was still holding onto his weapon, his weapon however, was also in the verge of breaking.

"Yuri!" Estelle shouted, though it seemed that her voice didn't reach Yuri, as he didn't react but kept facing the man in front of him.

There was a man several feet in front of Yuri holding on to what looks like Dien Nomos, but had a dark aura covering it. He was wearing a suit that looked a lot like Duke's but he had an armor piece in his right shoulder and two gauntlets. He had a short buzz cut red hair, and his pupils were color yellow. He was facing Yuri and was smiling.

"Hmm… You really did surprise me with the control you had with the power you have gained from that incident." The man said facing Yuri, his smile never leaving his face. "Even managing to defeat two of my minions on your own and putting up a fight despite your current state is a feat worthy of praise."

Yuri said nothing, but continued to face the man. The man then faced backwards and the roof of the ruins then exploded revealing two monsters with red aer covering there entire body.

"Well it seems that my minions have found the exact location of 'that' item." The man said as the monsters approaches him. "Playing with you was a great way to pass the time, Yuri Lowell… Hopefully you'll stay alive to give me the same entertainment that you gave me today."

The man then hoisted himself to one of the monsters and started to depart from the ruins.

"Wait!" Yuri said as he tried to give pursuit to the man, but his wounds prevented him from going any further and he collapsed to his knees. "…darn I was too careless."

With those words, Yuri finally collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

**Author Notes:**

Well, Yuri is finally here in this chapter.

I find that my descriptions need a bit of work, but if you find something wrong in terms of details, please let me know.

The katana mentioned here, is the default weapon of Yuri in the opening of Tales of Vesperia, and just to clarify things if it isn't clear, Yuri was carrying two weapons in the beginning of his disappearance in this fan fiction, the first is his default katana and the second is Vesperia No.2.

Just a note, school is going to start soon for me so my updates might be delayed. At most it should be 3 weeks before the next chapter is up or if I'm not busy, only 1 week.

Also, I have posted Chapter statuses in my Profile so if anyone is curious as to how close I'm finishing a chapter, it'll be in my profile, but do remember even if I'm finished with a chapter, I won't post it until Monday (well Monday from where I am). It'll also show my current status if I'm under a project, test or in a holiday. That way people won't think I'm 'dead' if I don't update for quite a while.

Reviews and corrections are welcome.


	6. Yuri's Revelations

**Chapter 6: Yuri's Revelations**

**Ruins in the Middle of the Desert (5:10 PM)**

_Damn… losing consciousness in a place like this…_ Yuri thought as his vision turned black.

Yuri was a man that would finish things thoroughly, when Estelle was worried for his well being after the event on Zaude, Yuri just reassured her that he isn't going to die until he take that 'eyesore' (Adephagos) off the sky. Now the said man is wondering if he can do the same if he was in such a pathetic state, alone with no back-up – or so he thought.

**Town in the Middle of the Desert (3:45 PM)**

The first thing that Yuri noticed when he regained consciousness is that he was no longer in the hard ground of the old desert ruins, he was now at a room in an Inn that he previously visited before going to pursue the man behind the events.

As he tried to hoist himself up to a sitting position, he noticed that Estelle was at the side of his bed asleep resting her head in his bed. He was a little surprised and wondered how they found him, but thinking back to the events before he lost consciousness, he did hear a voice that called to him and merely thought it was his imagination back then.

Yuri tried to stand up from his bed, but quickly fell down as he noticed that he was out of energy making him question how long he's been out.

The sudden sound of Yuri falling was enough to wake Estelle up from her slumber.

"Yuri! You're finally awake!" Estelle said happily as she tried to help Yuri up to his bed.

The sound of Yuri falling also alerted Rita, Raven and Judith who were apparently outside the room that Estelle and Yuri were in.

Once Yuri was in a comfortable position on his bed and after taking a much needed late-lunch, Flynn, who just arrived, began to ask his friend questions regarding his sudden disappearance.

"Where have you been for the last week?" Flynn asked after the plates had been cleaned up. "And why are these monsters after you?"

"Well I've been off from town to town." Yuri said, though clearly he was hiding something. "And as why the monsters were after me, I'm guessing you already have an idea as to why."

"Yeah, according to the monsters that we fought, it had something to do with you wielding the feather blade to destroy the Adephagos." Rita said.

"Well yeah that's pretty much the reason why they're after me." Yuri said as he lay back to his bed.

"There's still something you're hiding from us Yuri." Judith said "All you did was wield the feather blade, if the reason they're after you is for that reason, then they would have gone after Estelle and Duke."

This struck Yuri since it seemed they've gotten him cornered to telling the truth. All the eyes were on him now, as if he was being interrogated, though the difference being is that it wasn't the empire doing it but his very own friends.

_Sigh… I guess there's no escaping it._ Yuri thought, after all they're his friends and they did say that he shouldn't shoulder _all_ the responsibilities.

"Well, the reason behind it is because I wielded the feather blade using Vesperia No.1 a _copy_ of Dien Nomos." Yuri said emphasizing 'copy'. "As you might have already guessed, since it's merely a copy somethings may have gone wrong."

"The reason none of you noticed it, is because it had a delayed effect on me." Yuri said looking back at the weeks that followed after the Adephagos incident. "Basically, the events that took place there altered how my body works to the point that I can create or infuse a weapon to a form that has power comparable to that of the feather blade, using only aer and my own mana."

This was of course a lie, but it had some truth to it. Yuri was just hoping that they would buy it for now, he didn't want them worrying about his well being.

"What?" Rita asked out loud. "So your basically like a Vesperia No.3?"

"Well if you put it that way, yes." Yuri replied to a shocked looking Rita.

Judith can apparently sense that Yuri was hiding something, but decided to keep quiet about it.

"So this person is trying to eliminate you because of the power that you now hold, will intervene with whatever he's planning." Flynn said after making sense with the current information that Yuri has given. Despite being long friends with Yuri, he could not read people like Judith and his friend so easily took the answer for the truth.

"Then what could this guy be possibly planning?" Raven said after staying quiet this whole time.

"Well from what I could make of it," Yuri said as he looked back to why the man entered the ruins. "He seemed to be looking for parts of a puzzle that can revive an ancient monster. So the reason that he's trying to eliminate me is because I'm the only one with power to oppose him and possibly destroy the monster."

Rita, after finally recovering from the initial shock, decided to ask the question that Yuri probably purposely failed to mention. "You said that you can convert aer around you and your own mana to the energy required to make a similar feather blade to destroy the Adephagos, but wouldn't that mean you would not only take all the aer around you, but also take your whole mana?"

If all the mana in any body is gone, this would mean the physical death of the person.

"ugh… You figured that out huh…" Yuri said, this only earned him more worry from everyone, especially Estelle. "Hey, don't worry, I won't try to do that only if it's a last resort, and besides he still hasn't completed all the fragments."

"How many fragments are there?" Judith asked

"I'm not sure myself but he already has 2 so I'm guessing there are 3 more fragments." Yuri said. "But I'm not sure where the rest could be."

"What do these fragments look like?" Flynn asked, he seemed to be remembering something about a fragment that was a part of a puzzle back when he was doing some of his duties as Commandant in the City of Hope.

"Well based on what the past fragments looked like, they would form a star crystal once complete." Yuri said

"Well if that was the case, then I think I know where his next destination would be." Flynn said.

"Wait, you know already?" Rita asked.

"There was a fragment that was picked up by one of the guild members in Aurnion." Flynn said. "They said they picked it up after an earthquake opened the ground up to reveal a box containing the fragment."

"Well, I guess we should start heading there then." Yuri said trying to stand up, but was stopped by Estelle.

"You need to rest. My healing artes isn't as strong as before so I couldn't heal any of the deeper wounds." Estelle said with concern on her voice.

"I agree." Flynn said as he made his way out the door. "You should rest; you've been handling everything on your own this past weeks."

Seeing that he couldn't hope to persuade his friends otherwise, Yuri just closed his eyes and went of to sleep. This was the first sleep he had ever since he went of to his one week vacation.

**Outskirts of the Town in the Middle of the Desert (7:50AM)**

Once morning arrived, Yuri woke up and headed to have his breakfast with Karol who was eager to hear what he missed yesterday since he was busy helping with the other guilds rebuild the town with the knights. Everyone talked casually about events before hand so to lighten up the stress that everyone has received in the past week.

After breakfast they then headed out of the town to head to Aurnion.

On the way to Aurnion, Yuri pretty much stayed in one place sitting down as to not strain his wound. He couldn't get much rest as the others still needed more answers from him as to what else he might know.

"Ok Yuri," Rita began. "When did you notice when those monsters were after you and why did you head of to who-knows-where alone?"

"Well I pretty much noticed the monsters were after me roughly a month and a half before I went to vacation." Yuri said. "And I pretty much thought that it's technically my problem, so I shouldn't bother everyone with my problems."

"It's our problem now since we helped you defeat the Adephagos." Judith said, she was still wondering when the perfect opportunity to ask the man about what he was hiding.

"Yeah!" Karol agreed. "And besides, your part of the Guild Brave Vesperia so we'll always be there for you!"

"Heh… thanks guys." Yuri replied smiling.

After a few hours the party has now reached Aurnion… at the nick of time.

There were two monsters that had red aer around them attacking the town. The man that they call there master, was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn… This is bad, he might be heading to the other fragment right now." Yuri said as he prepared himself for battle despite his injuries.

After landing Baul a safe distance away from the town being attacked by the monsters, they then rushed to the city to help.

**City of Hope: Aurnion (11:50 AM)**

The city was being defended by the combined forces of the guilds and knights, so it was a sight to behold for someone who grew up where guilds and knights were enemies.

Once the party arrived, Flynn and Karol went ahead to command the knights and guilds to leave the fighting to them and should focus there energy to helping the injured and evacuating the city.

"Ok, how exactly did you fend of one of these monsters the first time?" Rita asked Yuri, hoping to make this battle a bit more easier.

"Well I mainly used my power to break through the aer, and while I'm at it, I make the energy sword absorb the aer to dispel the barrier." Yuri replied as he gets Vesperia No.2 charged with aer. Vesperia No.2 was still heavily damaged; he needed to make sure that he wouldn't have to make Vesperia No.2 overused like in the battle with that man. If he was to use any other method of channeling aer and mana, he'd probably take more mana from himself than needed making his friends worry more.

"You think you can do that to both of them right now?" Raven asked, disturbing the dark swordsman from his thoughts.

"I think I can, but you've got to keep them busy if I'm just going to use the aer around me." Yuri replied. "The aer concentration is already too low since those monsters are taking them up already."

"Great…" Karol just arrived after Yuri answered Raven. "We're decoys again."

**

* * *

**

**Author Notes:**

Thank you for all of your reviews, it surely give me motivation to continue writing despite that school has begun for me.

I'm not sure if Yuri's new power was properly explained here (well he is hiding something after all), but of course I'll make it clearer in the chapters to come. Vesperia No.2 is basically the weapon required by Yuri to use his second Mystic Arte in the PS3 version Tenshou Kouyokuken. According to Yuri's explanation here, it meant that he can create the feather blade without Vesperia No.1 or No.2 using only aer and mana.

The whole things about the fragments will be talked about in the later chapters.

Yup, another battle is coming and hopefully I'll make it more detailed than my last battle. The monsters description will also be in the next chapter, they're not all the same so I'm going to be putting some distinctions and explanations in the upcoming chapters.

Sorry if the next chapter is going to be late (though I'm not saying it will definitely be late, but there's a high chance it will be), school has started and I need to focus at my 2 analysis due somewhere on the next two weeks (first day already and I have 2 analysis due this month!). Don't worry, I have no intention of abandoning my fan fiction, I just need more time now to finish a chapter since school has begun. If I take a whole month to update, then I'll just make it longer to hopefully make up for it.

Reviews are greatly appreciated as mentioned beforehand, it'll motivate me to keep on writing.


	7. Battle at Aurnion

**Chapter 7: The Battle at Aurnion**

**City of Hope Aurnion** **(12:10PM)**

Flynn was jumping from side to side, avoiding the attacks of the two monsters. Apparently not all of the monsters covered in red aer used one element as demonstrated by the two aer covered monsters in front of them.

One of the monsters in front of them had two devil like wings and had 4 horns. The monster looked a lot like Belius, but a lot more intimidating as the eyes were bloodshot red. The monster also used lightning elemental, and dark based attacks. Avoiding the Bloody Howls of the monster while keeping attention to the other monsters, and avoiding them from getting closer to Yuri and the town, was no easier said than done.

The other monster looked similar to the other monster except its eyes was color green and had no horns. It had many thorns in its side making physical combat as dangerous as avoiding each attack of the said monster. Despite this physical element of the monster, it was hard to approach it physically as the fact that it uses wind element in conjunction with the red aer to keep physical attacks from coming any closer.

Avoiding each attack was becoming a problem as they can't go into the offensive. The only spells that Rita can do at the moment, was Fire Ball, and Stone Blast. Not much help as they can barely stay at one place without being aimed at by the two monsters.

The monsters seemed to attack in perfect unison as they avoided attacking one target at a time, but rather attacked those that had the most chances of penetrating there red aer. Judith couldn't do the same tactics that she did in the previous monster they fought. The previous one had many wounds and was already weakened to the point that her attempt to pierce the barrier actually worked.

Estelle was staying by Yuri's side getting her shield ready to guard any attacks coming there direction. Yuri was initially against this, but she proved adamant and told him to focus on getting his power ready. Luckily, Flynn was diverting much of the attention of the enemy by creating a powerful Demon Fang enough to graze the barrier, startling the monsters over the power. Raven on the other hand, focused on healing everyone else with his arrow, not much he could do since his arrows proved to be useless against such a barrier.

A bright light then appeared at where Yuri was standing. He was covered by a huge amount of light and his sword was beginning to form to a feather blade. This show of skill attracted the monsters attention, making them realize that the man who was covered with light was the target of their master.

"That light…" The monster that had red eyes said in a low voice. "It's Yuri Lowell!"

_Crap… this is bad._ Flynn thought as he dodged a compressed wind attack from the green eyed monster. As Flynn looked over to Yuri's position, he was still focused and didn't seem to mind that the monsters have now recognized he was the bigger threat out of all the people fighting.

For the first time in the whole attempt to act as a diversion, the two monsters aimed at one target, Yuri. Estelle however placed herself in front of Yuri to shield him.

"Estelle!"

"Lady Estelle!"

A loud explosion was heard as the fire and wind attack of the two monster converged and created a huge fiery explosion.

_Am I dead?_ Was the first question that came to Estelle's mind. She clearly didn't feel anything, so she pretty much thought that she was probably hit way too hard for the pain to be absent. As she opened her eyes, to her shock, she was surrounded by a white light. Yuri was in front of her, the light radiating from his body, signifying that he was the one that blocked the attack..

"Are you ok Estelle?" Yuri asked without facing her, instead facing the monsters before him.

"Umm… Yeah." Estelle replied. She was wondering as to how Yuri shielded the attack, but decided to hold out the questions until after the enemies were defeated.

"Ok then, time to begin…" Yuri said quietly to himself.

As Yuri said those words, the magic circle below him lit up much brighter, infusing his Vesperia No.2 with more energy. Yuri then raises the sword above him, the sword continued to lit up brighter and brighter, growing in size. The size was big, but it was no where near the height of the original feather blade.

"That light!" The monsters stopped in their tracks there face was replace with that of horror.

"Is that… Yuri's?" Karol has also stopped in his tracks and looked at the source of light.

Yuri then grabs hold of the sword with both hands, the circle below him dimming but was still clear as day to those who looked at his direction. With slight difficulty he then began to slam the sword down at the monsters before him. The monsters were too stunned to move from there current position, apparently the white blade that Yuri was now wielding was now sucking the monsters of there aer leaving them completely defenseless and without energy.

"Heaven's Soaring Light Blade!"

The white feather blade slammed down at the monsters, the onlookers was temporarily blinded by what followed after: a bright light that covered the whole field. Once the dust cleared and the light dimmed, the only remains of the monsters that fell prey to the feather blade were 2 fragments.

Karol, who covered his eyes to protect it from the light looked around and found the remains of the monsters. "It's over?"

Raven and Rita approached the fragments and to their surprise, it was the only remains of the monsters just like the previous monster they defeated – they leave fragments when they're defeated.

"Yuri defeated it with only one swing?" Raven asked to nobody in particular. He was still somewhat shocked at the power display of Yuri; he'd never thought that the young man was hiding something this powerful.

Flynn, Judith and Repede headed to the direction of Yuri, they were wondering what happened then but was shocked to find that Yuri had already collapsed, beside him a broken Vesperia No.2. Estelle was frantically trying to wake Yuri up.

"Yuri!" Estelle was shaking Yuri, hoping that he wasn't dead or injured.

"Ugh…" Yuri stirred. Once he gathered his wits, he sat himself up. "They're gone now right?"

Though Yuri asked a question, it seemed to be more of confirmation. Judging by his tone, it seemed he was confident that his action has indeed defeated two of the monsters.

"Yeah." Flynn answered he then crouches down and helped his friend up. "We'll take you to an Inn here, there's something I still need to ask you."

**City of Hope Aurnion: Inn (12:50PM)**

"Did you find the star fragment?" Yuri asked as he was supported by Flynn towards the Inn, where Repede, Judith, Karol, Raven, Rita and Estelle followed.

"Apparently, there were 3 monsters that originally came here." Flynn said as he sat Yuri down to one of the beds in the Inn room. "The one that had the star fragment, already left before we even got here."

"Damn…" Yuri muttered.

Rita decided to ask a question she was meaning to ask but didn't find the chance before hand, "What exactly are these fragments? We already know it has something to do about reviving this ancient monster, but these fragments in itself has they're own power don't they?"

Yuri would have been surprised at what Rita had just said, but of course this was the genius researcher Rita Mordio. Yuri then sighed and looked at Rita at the eye, to make sure that whatever he's saying is the truth.

"Yeah, they have a power on there own." Yuri said without breaking eye contact. "There are 5 fragments, Life, Decay, Power, Drain and Hope. Life has the ability to create any creature so long as the user sacrifice something of importance, or they replace the payment with something like a huge amount of aer or mana. Decay has the ability to destroy anything that comes into contact with the energy it radiates, again a huge amount of aer or mana is required for it to work. Power has the ability to bestow anyone that uses it with great amount of power physically and magically, but is utterly useless without Drain. Drain has the power to efficiently drain the mana or aer around a given area. Drain is so efficient that with it, the user can effectively use all the previous fragments."

"So judging by what's been happening lately…" Karol said as he came unto a conclusion, "We can safely say that this enemy of ours has Life and Drain… so what's the last fragment?"

"The last fragment is Hope." Yuri said now facing everyone. "Hope is the final key to reviving the ancient monster. In itself it's believe to be useless."

"How do you know all of this Yuri?" Flynn asked. He was skeptical as to how Yuri would know something like this, seeing as he didn't have an interest in ancient structure even when he was traveling with the group.

"Well I'd have to do some research beforehand if I planned on going after a guy alone don't I?" Yuri said with a smile. With his poker face it was hard to tell if he was lying. Judith apparently can see through it.

"Yuri, you first said the reason of your disappearance was because you were being followed by monsters." Judith said as he looked Yuri at the eye just to see even a moment of hesitation indicating that he's lying, "But now you're saying that you left to go after the mastermind of all this, now which is the truth?"

All the eyes were at Yuri now, he mentally hit himself for letting his mouth slip and making them more skeptical than they originally were.

_Sigh… I guess she's the only one that can see through me._ Yuri then looks at the anxious crowd in front of him and began to speak. "Originally, I found myself being followed by a type of monster that had red aer covering there bodies. As soon as I confirmed that they were following me, I asked for a week break and I decided to track where the monsters were coming from. They lead me to Shizontania."

Yuri then started rubbing Repede's back as he continued explaining what happened during his absence. "I took a stop at a town nearby, and there I met Hisca and Chastel. After meeting up with them, I headed to the Shizontania ruins. That guy…"

Yuri paused as he clenches his fist in anger. "That guy was using the remains of the failed blastia research a few years ago; there I found out that he was the one funding Garista's research. He took a part in causing the death of Lambert, Captain and the loss of the Barrier Blastia of Shizontania."

Yuri then unclenches his fist and looks up to the ceiling and continued, "I've made it my objective to make that guy pay, so of course I was hesitant on involving you guys in this. Cause technically it seems more of a personal problem for me."

"That doesn't matter Yuri!" Karol exclaimed to the injured man. "We're your friends! Even if it's like that we'll help you! That's what friends are for right?"

Yuri can't help but smile at the young guild master's sudden response.

"What?" Karol said as he noticed that Yuri smiled. "Did I say something funny?"

"Nah…" Yuri said as he looks at Karol. "You've really grown into a reliable guild master Karol."

"Uh… Thanks." Karol blushed at the compliment.

"Anyway, what are we going to call these monsters?" Rita asked, these monsters' lacking a name was surely something that has been bothering the party.

Just before Karol could give out his idea, Rita cut him off. "Don't even think of naming these monsters Karol."

Karol then frowned and closed his mouth.

"Well judging by how these monsters are made, we can call them the Remnants." Estelle answered.

"Why Remnants?" Raven asked, the name was good and all, but he wasn't quite sure why the monsters should be called Remnants.

"It's because they use aer around us to take a form, in a way they're using the remnant aer to take a physical form." Yuri explained.

"Ok we've got those things settled, so what's our next destination?" Karol asked. "I mean those guys already have Drain, Life and the fragment that was found here."

"According to the writings on the wall in the Desert in the Ruins," Rita said as she thinks back to the events that occurred in the ruins. "One of the fragments is found…"

"Deep Underwater." Yuri finished for Rita

* * *

**Author's Notes**

As I've mentioned before hand, this chapter is late by at least a few days. Updating weekly is now difficult since I now have school.

The next chapter won't be an actual chapter that affects the plot in anyway, but an interlude revealing the thoughts of one character throughout the events that has happened. I would periodically do this and hopefully have an interlude for all the characters before I end this story. Though the interlude doesn't affect the plot in any major way, it would sometimes have explanations for several plot points, if I haven't given enough information or for a simplification of what I've pointed out thus far.

I'll be revising accordingly if I find something wrong. If you find anything confusing (like if it's written badly), or its giving the wrong information, please inform me and I'll try to make the corrections accordingly.

Due to internet restrictions during school days, I'll be updating my fan fiction at Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The frequency of my updates would now normally be 1-2 weeks. An update will be considered late if I don't update during the period.

Reviews and constructive criticism is highly appreciated. Due to school, reviews would be like a fuel that keeps me, the writer, writing!


	8. Interlude: Karol's Thoughts

**Interlude: Karol's Thoughts**

**On Baul: (2:30PM)**

The party has been on the skies traveling to their next destination. After the battle in Aurnion, everyone was quiet to reserve energy for the next confrontation.

Karol looked around and found that everyone had something to occupy them. Estelle was sleeping next to Yuri, Judith was talking to Baul, Flynn and Raven seemed to be deep in thought and Rita was working at another makeshift blastia.

Karol sighed. He then lies on his back. He looks at the sky and began to think back at the events that led up to this big quest that has the world involved again.

Ever since his fateful meeting with Yuri at the forest of Hallure, he's always looked up and found him to be his role model – well, since the Don died. He always marveled at Yuri's courageous feats and the demeanor to never give up. Yuri even decided that they should make a guild, which without hesitation, he wanted to be apart of. Oddly enough, Yuri had no plans on becoming the guild master, but decided to make Karol the guild's guild master. He was of course against this in the beginning but Yuri insisted. And despite that it was both Yuri's idea to create the guild and he was the appointed guild master, Estelle was the one that formed the actual Guild Name, even though she wasn't part of the guild. Nevertheless, the name that Estelle suggested was something that he wholeheartedly agreed to, "Brave Vesperia."

The first actual mission of Brave Vesperia was to defeat Alexie (though it wasn't a guild request, but rather a whim of the whole guild, including himself). That first mission was also the time that they nearly lost Yuri.

Karol then looked at Yuri's general direction and found that he was still lying down sleeping with Repede and Estelle beside him. A few hours ago, he displayed a show of skill that he thought he'd only see when blastia was still around or from Estelle, the Child of the Full Moon. The skill that Yuri used however, made him lose Vesperia No.2. Yuri explained before that he can do that skill without the said sword, but it's a lot more straining.

Karol shook his head and looked at the sky.

A lot of things has happened since then, who would have ever thought that they'd be thrust in a situation again where there very success would be what determines the state of the world. The only difference from the previous incident was that it was plainly visible to everyone in Tecra Lumiries, and everyone worked together to achieve the same goal, but in this incident it was relatively unknown to everyone. Brave Vesperia just hoped it would remain that way.

After the whole Adephagos event, he pressed on with his guild and accepted any requests that came their way. Usually a guild would have a focus of what kind of requests they accept, but Brave Vesperia seemed to take any request earning them the nickname the 'all rounder' guild. He's also gotten into good terms with his secret crush (well, not so secret since Estelle kept blabbing about that he should tell her his feelings), and he hoped that eventually he'd be able to tell his true feelings.

Of course, things weren't always that simple.

A testament to this is that now they're in a quest to defeat a man before he awakens an ancient monster that can possibly destroy the world. He wasn't sure if the man was a crazed lunatic, but judging by what he saw when the party met him for the first time, the man was a lot like Alexei. The man seemed analytic and very set on achieving his goal. He wasn't too sure if the man knew what he was doing or why the man is doing such a thing, but Brave Vesperia made it that he had to be defeated.

Karol then smiled. He wasn't worried, though he was obviously nervous, but he had the optimistic feeling that they'll get through this like they did with the Adephagos.

"Hey Karol!"

Karol then got up and looked at the direction of the voice. It was Yuri.

"What is it Yuri?" Karol asked as he got up from his position.

"Just came to warn you that Rita has just completed another makeshift blastia." Yuri said with a smirk. "And she's relatively bored."

This of course meant one thing… He's the target.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

This is the first interlude of my story. This acted more as a recap than an informative chapter.

Tell me what you think of the interlude, I just decided to add this just to expand what one character thinks about the whole events and as an information compilation for you readers. As mentioned before, this first one is more of a recap, but the next few ones would be more in-depth. Depending on who the interlude is about, a different set of information would be given out. And as far as I've watched in walkthroughs, Karol isn't the one to see through things like Yuri and Judith which explains his optimistic look in the whole events that has happened.

Thank you for your reviews and correction. Corrections really help me as a writer to improve. Yeah, I know that school is first priority so I'm just making the most out of my current time as I know that further down the year I'll be flooded with school work, thank you for your concern. Speaking of which, the next chapter might be late due to several assessments I face in the next two weeks.

Reviews and constructive criticism will be helpful!


	9. Ruins Under the Ocean

**Chapter 8: The Ruins under the Ocean**

**Somewhere in the middle of the Ocean: (4:00PM)**

The sun was about to set and they have finally reached there destination. The party decided to head to the location of the fragment straight away in fear that the enemy has already reached it and gathered it.

Judging by the lack of movements within the water, Yuri assumed that the sheer amount of water repelled the instigator from actually entering and getting the fragment for fear of being crushed by water pressure. But if that was the case, the enemy should be nearby…

As they looked down to the huge ocean, one question escaped the mind of the young guild master.

"HOW THE HECK ARE WE GOING TO GET DOWN THERE!" Karol yelled at the top of his voice.

"Any ideas?" Raven asked the group.

As everyone thought for an answer, Rita already opened her mouth to give out her idea.

"Well, we could use the spirit of Undine that's with Estelle to temporarily part the water." Rita suggested.

"But… wouldn't that mean Estelle would have to stay here and maintain the water from entering the ruins?" Karol asked.

"Not only that, Estelle would be in high strain the more time that we spend down there." Judith pointed out. "So not only do we leave our healer here, but we also have a limited time of getting the fragment."

"That means we have to set our party on who's the most mobile to get the fragment fast." Yuri said with a smile. His voice didn't have an ounce of fear within them, but he actually sounded excited at this prospect.

"Alright then, we'll have four people head down." Karol announced after grasping the situation. "Yuri, Flynn, Judith and Repede are the ones that are heading down there."

"What!" Rita was enraged that she won't have the chance to inspect the ruins. "Why can't I come? I'm certainly mobile!"

"I think the reason that Captain Karol didn't put you in the party was because you'd just inspect the ruins." Raven pointed out with a sly smile. "That in effect would drag down the party don't ya think?"

Rita closed her mouth and looked down. He certainly got her there. She always hated it if someone was right about something.

Karol then continued of from where he got interrupted. "The rest of us will stay here and protect Estelle and hopefully try to fend of the enemy if the Remnants get here."

"Aye, aye captain." Raven said with a mock salute.

Estelle then allowed Undine out to part the water, as she did this, Baul landed close to the ruins to drop of Yuri, Flynn, Repede and Judith.

Judith instructed Baul to remain in the air while they're inside for safety precautions. Before the party entered the ruins, Rita threw a red crystal to Flynn.

"That's a makeshift bodhi blastia that I created!" Rita said to Flynn. "It only works under medium to high concentration of aer, so use it wisely. Oh and another thing, this place is supposedly an aer krene. It's odd since I don't see aer seeping out of the ruins."

"Thank you for the blastia. We'll be careful" Flynn then heads of to enter with Yuri, Repede and Judith.

As Baul took Estelle, Raven, Karol and Rita high to the sky, Rita then supported Estelle's effort to part the water. Hopefully with their effort, they'll be able to grab the fragment before the Remnants get here and they lose the power to part the water.

**Underwater Ruins: (4:20PM)**

Yuri, Judith, Flynn and Repede ran quietly towards the center of the ruins. The only sound that could be heard was the soft trickling of water and their footsteps, but aside from that it was totally quiet. This silence was unnerving as in every other ruins that they've been in there were monsters.

Since Yuri has lost the two weapons that he started out with, he was given a plain long sword by Flynn as a way for him to fight.

_Something's odd with Yuri's current movements._ Flynn was thinking to himself as they ran. He noticed the current look of resolve and seriousness in Yuri's face. As the past few days, they have not only found Yuri, but found that there's a greater threat once again posed to Tecra Lumeries. There last confrontation with The Remnants has confirmed his thoughts that Yuri is indeed hiding something.

They continued to walk in relative silence with only the slow but constant dripping of water from the ceiling to the floor. They passed a crossroad, but seeing as there's no point on exploring blindly, they decided to go straight and backtrack if they reach a dead end. Once they reached the end of the hallway, they came face to face with a huge door. The door, though ancient, stands strong and it seemed to be unbreakable.

"By the looks of it…" Judith said as she analyzed the writings on the side of the door, "we have to find a total of 2 switches."

"So we have to backtrack and look for the two switches huh…" Yuri said as he then took in charge. "We'll be splitting to two groups; we have to reach the switches as fast as we can before Estelle loses power. I'll go with Repede."

"And I'll go with Judith." Flynn said quietly without objection.

Judith merely smiled and nodded knowingly.

"Alright then lets go back to the crossroads and split-up."

_**Meanwhile: On Baul (4:35PM)**_

Rita and Estelle were busy on controlling and channeling power to Undine from keeping the water on crashing down to the ruins. As minutes passed, the strain got higher and higher.

"I hope Yuri would get the fragment fast without any problems." Karol quietly said to Raven as he stood look out with the old man.

"Yeah, but I also hope that they haven't met up with those Remnants." Raven replied. "But if that was the case, then we'll be the one meeting them."

"That means we'll have to hold them off without Rita, Estelle and Yuri…" Karol silently contemplated. "I just hope that they'll be able to do it before the Remnants get here."

"Speaking of which," Raven said as he took out his bow and arrow. "I can't really be of that much help with my weapon. By arrows just seems to bounce off… Don't even get me started with going melee."

"Yeah…" Karol nodded in agreement. "Even with my axes, I can only graze the red aer but I can't cleave into it."

Rita, having heard the conversation spoke up, "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I was working with weapons that can possibly pierce the red aer. They're over at the chest under my books… Oh and if you touch anything else, you'll wish that you were never born."

Karol and Raven sweatdropped as they approached the chest that Rita was talking about. Once they opened it, they found what looked like a glowing set of weapons. One was an axe but was notably glowing blue another was the detachable bow and arrow that was glowing green.

"What's with the glowing weapons?" Karol asked as he picked up the axe.

"Your axe is an aer repelling weapon, while Raven's bow and arrow is an aer absorbing weapon." Rita answered. "Your axe repels any aer that comes near it, while the old man's bow and arrow can absorb the aer from the opponent effectively draining them."

"Nice." Was all Karol could say at what Rita created.

"Problem is, it's not quite ready yet."

"What do you mean?" Raven asked.

"They're only prototypes, in terms of damage; it's much weaker than your current weapons when dealing with normal monsters." Rita answered. "Ok… enough questions I need to focus here!"

Suddenly, Baul howled alerting everyone on board.

"Wha-What was that?" Karol asked as he prepared his weapon.

"It seemed that Baul sensed something." Raven said as he squint his eyes over the horizon.

Raven then spotted what they feared the most. Two Remnants and their master were heading their way.

**Underwater Ruins: (4:40PM)**

Once the two parties split on the crossroads, Flynn and Judith were silently running down the hall to find the switch.

"Tell me Flynn, why is it that you agreed to my partner? I was pretty sure that you'd want to come with Yuri to interrogate him." Judith said as they continued on down the hallway. "So I assume your going to ask me what I think of the current actions of Yuri huh?"

"Yeah." Flynn replied without looking at Judith. "What are your thoughts on it?"

"Personally, I think Yuri knows more than he's letting on." Judith said in a calm tone.

"But why is he hiding things about these Remnants? Is it something that we're really better of not knowing?" Flynn asked.

"I'm not sure, but hopefully he'll drop his guard soon, otherwise we'll only find out once we confront the master of these remnants." Judith replied.

Flynn and Judith then stopped in front of a control mechanism. Judging by how it's connected to the ruins, it seems to indicate that it's a switch. The mechanism had a circular glowing platform; it seemed to indicate that something should be placed there.

"What do you think?" Flynn asked Judith.

"I've seen one of these mechanisms in my trips a few years back…" Judith then went closer and inspected the mechanism. "I think all you have to do is place your hand over it with a minimal amount of aer concentrated at your hand."

"Ok." Flynn then made use of the bodhi blastia that was given to him and conjured a small amount of aer at his right hand. The surroundings of Flynn's right hand started to show green aer. He then placed his hand over the mechanism. The mechanism then sucked the aer from around Flynn's right hand; this in effect made the walls of the ruins glow and shake. The light was still pretty dim, but it was significant enough to signify that it was indeed glowing.

"Hmm… I wonder how Yuri is doing…" Judith asked out loud.

As if to answer her questions, the walls started to glow brighter and a loud unlocking sound ringed throughout the halls of the ruins.

"I guess he did it." Judith said with a smile as she started running with Flynn following her.

Once Yuri and Repede met up with Judith and Flynn, they found that the door that was previously locked, open. They then proceeded to walk in to the main hall.

"It's too silent…" Yuri whispered as even the dripping of water could not be heard. "There's definitely something in here…"

"Yeah…" Flynn agreed in a low whisper. "This part of the ruins is completely devoid of water, as if it was completely airtight before we opened the door."

The floor then began to shake around them and the sound of giant footsteps could be heard. The floor beneath them started to seep red aer, and the rocks started gathering at one point.

"Is it me or is this Déjà vu?" Yuri said as he took out his sword.

"Yeah… this is just like the time in Shizontania…" Flynn said as he took out his shield and sword.

"Would you care to talk about your experiences after we beat this thing?" Judith said as she took out her spear.

*Woof!* Repede barked in agreement as he himself prepared for battle.

A golem started to form from the rocks that gathered, and faced the party.

"Well this is going to be interesting." Yuri said with a smile.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

First up, let me apologize for the lack of updates the past few weeks. I've been incredibly busy these past weeks regarding school work, and now I have another World Lit to work on… So unless I get more free time (I also have extracurricular activities) the next update would be coming after two or three weeks.

I'm not sure of what to make with the interlude chapter as no-one gave a review (which somewhat killed my motivation). I guess since it was more of a recap than an informative chapter, it didn't really give any new information.

If you're all wondering how my writing is going and my current status as to why I haven't updated, please check my profile. As mentioned before, it has my current status and chapter status as to how complete it is or if it's ready for submission.

Corrections, constructive criticism and reviews would be helpful and motivate me to write despite my currently busy schedule!


	10. Twin Skirmish

**Chapter 9: Twin Skirmish**

**Underwater Ruins: (4:45PM)**

A golem made out of stone was facing the party menacingly. If it could growl or roar at them it would have certainly been making those sounds provided it didn't have a vocal cord.

"That guy doesn't seem to have joints like the one we fought back in Shizontania!" Flynn yelled as he ran across the room dodging the rocks that was being tossed at him.

"By the looks of it, the aer itself is animating those rocks…" Yuri then jumped from behind the golem and stabbed his sword the 'neck' of the golem. The golem attempted to swat him off, but Yuri quickly dislodged his sword and rolled to the side.

"That's not it, there seems to be a core within that golem." Judith said as she quickly analyzed where the aer was gathering within the golem.

"So basically we just have to destroy that to defeat the golem huh?" Yuri said as he recovered.

"Precisely."

Yuri quickly looked around his immediate surrounding for a possible strategy to possibly pierce the rock. As he observed Flynn dodging around, a red glow caught his attention. This gave him an idea.

"Judith, can you somehow immobilize the golem?" Yuri asked.

"That much I can do… I assume you have something planned?" Judith said noticing Yuri's tone and smirk.

"Pretty much." Yuri then started running to help keep the golem busy. He then made eye contact with Flynn that seems to say 'conserve and charge up your strength.'

Flynn nodded as he continued to dodge the attacks and slowly charge up aer onto his makeshift blastia.

_**Meanwhile…**_

**On Baul: (4:48PM)**

Karol had a look of horror on his face as he realized that the Remnants, along with their master are heading there way.

_We can either run away, hide, negotiate or confront them…_ Karol thought, but based on previous encounters, there seemed to be only one option.

"Looks like a battle is inevitable." Raven said as he got his bow ready for a preemptive strike.

As soon as the enemy was within the range of fire for Raven, he fired several arrows with extreme precision, aiming all at their joints. This startled the other Remnant, but their master merely smirked.

_Damn, what's this guy? A monster? _Raven thought as he continued to fire arrows, and hopefully hit the man that was just smiling at them.

The man raised his right hand; an orange orb was at its grasp, glowing. He then used his left hand and started to chant something.

"Guys! Watch out! He's casting Explode!" Rita called out from her position. Her experience from casting spells had apparently allowed her to distinguish the spells that an enemy could cast.

No sooner than she said this, a large magic circle emerged from the sky. From the center of the magic circle, a large fire ball burst out. It made impact with Baul which promptly send them crashing down to the ground.

Baul was injured for shielding the party from the full brunt of the spell, but that was all it took for Estelle and Rita to lose focus.

"Estelle!"

Estelle immediately forced more of her energy, causing her magic circle to light up more brighter, to stop the wave descending into the ruins. This in effect however, has severely limited her amount of energy to keeping the water up.

"I can't hold out for long!" Estelle said as she focused hard on preventing the water from crashing down.

"Damn… this isn't good! We can't hold that guy off and maintain the water!" Rita said in frustration. She was now hesitating on whether to join in the fray and risk lowering the time limit, or continue on like this and risk getting killed. _C'mon Yuri! Hurry up and get here!_

**Underwater Ruins: (4:52PM)**

A loud quake shook the ruins as Yuri and Flynn nearly tripped upon there constant avoiding of the Golem's attack.

"That quake came from outside…" Flynn started as he looked at the direction of the loud sound.

"Estelle!" Yuri said in realization. He then looked at the golem. "We have to finish this fast; it seems that the enemy has already reached them!"

"Understood." Flynn nodded as he continued to avoid the golem's attacks.

"Judith anytime you're ready!" Yuri shouted as he also tried to keep the golem busy.

"Just about done here!" Judith said as the ground below her started to glow, and lightning started to emit from her signifying that her energy gathering is almost complete. "Keep that golem still for just a second!"

"Flynn!" Yuri shouted to Flynn as he stopped in his tracks right behind the golem.

"Got it!" Flynn replied as he himself stopped in front of the golem.

"Azure Edge!"

"Demon Fang!"

The two artes made contact with the golem at the same time temporarily stunning it in place as the impact shook its whole body. This momentary stop was all the time needed for Judith to target the golem.

Judith held her lightning imbued spear at her back. Making eye contact with the golem, she leaped into the air and brought down her spear, stabbing it right next to the golem's feet.

"Radiant Moonlight!"

A magic circle appeared below the golem, exploding with lightning which promptly made the golem go to its knees.

Seeing as this is their chance, Yuri took advantage of it.

"Let's do this Flynn!" Yuri shouted to Flynn as he brought his sword above his head getting ready to stab the floor below him.

"Ok!" Flynn did the same and stabbed the floor beneath him at the same time as Yuri. Channeling the energy he gathered at his blastia, the energy then linked with Yuri's forming a huge Guardian Field.

"Haaaa!"

A huge amount of light emitted from the circle, all striking the immobilized golem. Once the light stopped emitting, Flynn and Yuri removed there swords from the ground and made a quick dash to the opponent with their fists imbued with aer.

"Burst!" Flynn and Yuri said at the same time once they made contact with the monster. As soon as they're at the opposite side from when they started, they immediately jumped into the air.

Once in the air, they focused there energies once again into their swords.

"Pierce! Martial God Paired Heaven Wave!"

After focusing there energies, they released the energy in their swords and aimed it towards the golem. A white light emerged from Flynn's sword while a dark purple light emerged from Yuri's sword.

The light then intertwined with each other, eventually forming into one focused purple beam. The beam then made contact with the golem, instantly piercing and destroying the core. To say that the golem didn't stand a chance was putting it mildly.

"Did we do it?" Flynn asked out loud as he landed at the ruin floor.

"Yeah I think so…" Yuri replied as he quickly scanned the area for the sole reason that they were inside the Temple. "There's the fragment!"

The fragment was glowing dark and it seemed to have just appeared once the core in the golem was destroyed. It was on top of a pillar, floating ominously.

"Is that the Decay Fragment?" Judith asked to no one in particular.

"Looks like it." Yuri slowly approached the fragment and took hold of it. After scanning it he gave it to Judith for safe keeping and ran out of the ruins. Without speaking, Flynn, Judith and Repede followed suit.

As they were running towards the exit, the temple started to shake violently. Water then came rushing in from the halls filling where they were with water.

Under a minute, the ruin was submerged under water.

_**A Few Minutes Earlier…**_

**An Island near the Ruins: (4:55PM)**

Karol and Raven were having trouble keeping the two remnants and their master at bay. They already had trouble facing just one of them without Yuri's help and now they were reduced to two with the other two maintaining the water from crushing the ruins to where Yuri's party is currently in.

"Tch… This is getting a bit out of hand…" Raven said as he jumped into the island that Baul landed on to hopefully keep Baul from getting hurt. He then fired several arrows at the Remnants so they would give chase. Much to his dismay, only one of the Remnants followed. "Karol! Stay there and protect Rita and Estelle!"

"I know! But I don't think I can handle this alone!" Karol shouted back as he stood his ground shaking at what the master of the Remnants was truly capable of.

As one Remnant went after Raven, the other Remnant landed close to the ground and the master of the remnants hopped off the monster.

The man walked casually closer to where Karol is and as they made eye contact, it seemingly said _move away or die._

Karol however stood his ground and clutched his axe more harder. "I won't let you pass even if I have to use my body as a shield!"

The man merely smiled and the next moment was directly behind Karol.

"If you truly intend to do so… then sharpen your senses!" The man then delivered a kick with his heel impacting Karol's ribs as the latter tried to turn and shield with his axe.

"Karol!" Rita and Estelle screamed in horror as Karol was thrown towards the Remnant. The Remnant however, did not do anything but rather watched what Karol was going to do.

"Ugh… I'm joining in!" Rita said as she broke off from Estelle and faced the man.

Karol stood up clutching his broken ribs and using his axe as support. Using a Lemon Gel, he squeezed it into the wound to hopefully speed up the recovery process.

Karol then charged in with his axe ready, while Rita started casting a spell.

The man merely stood in place and waited for the impact of each attack that they were trying to do. It's as if he was looking at this as mere entertainment.

As soon as the attacks made impact the man's barrier blocked it and blew it away. He then appeared in front of Rita about to deliver a punch, but Rita acting fast, used a simple lightning spell and imbued it into her fist.

As the fist made contact, a sudden explosion occurred and Rita was blasted backwards unconscious. Her right glove burnt from the explosion. Karol on the other hand was unconscious a few feet away opposite of Rita.

An explosion was heard at the island they're currently in setting the trees around the explosion ablaze.

"Rita!" Estelle was torn to helping her friends or to maintain the spell that's keeping Yuri and the rest alive.

The man then slowly turned his head from looking at Rita's unconscious body towards Estelle's position.

"You must be the Child of the Full Moon…" The man said as he slowly walked over to Estelle's position. "Your power intrigues me… so please stop channeling your magic or I'll be forced to knock you unconscious."

"Sorry…" Estelle replied barely audible due to her fear. She straightened up and held her voice firm. "I can't do that, my friends are still in there."

"Such a pity…" The man then steps into Estelle's magic circle, cancelling the spell out and corrupting it with his own magic. This action surprised Estelle as her magic was just cancelled and seemingly sealed. "I didn't really want to do this, but you really insisted."

The water that was parted crashed into the ruins filling it once again with water. Anyone that was in there would have no chance of surviving due to the water pressure. Undine, having lost magic output from Estelle, returned as a blue orb towards Estelle.

As the full implication of the events that took place hit Estelle she screamed one word and hoped that it wouldn't be the last time she said it, "YURI!"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Finally done with this chapter… It took me a while to find out where I'd be heading with this chapter since I've been extremely busy with school work (most assessments are now finished so I can probably update more frequently now).

Sorry for the currently irregular updates, school is really keeping me busy and I've been getting ideas and inspiration of new things to write. As a reply to one of the reviews, yes I've played Persona 3 (Well Persona 3 Portable) and I'll be posting a post-game event fan fiction as soon as I finish this story or when things start calming down at school for me. I will finish this story, but school has really been making me postpone writing.

Another battle and I'm not sure how that really ended up. I'm not really good at writing fight scenes but that said, doesn't mean I won't try and improve it. So please comment in this battle if it was good, getting better or certain things needs to get improved. Oh and the arte used by both Yuri and Flynn here is there special dual Hi-ougi from the PS3 version. I posted the english translation based on Aselia Wiki, but I changed certain things so it would play out well.

If any of the characters are actually dead, you'd all have to wait till the next chapter.

Corrections, constructive criticism and reviews are highly appreciated!


	11. Pyrrhic Victory

**Chapter 10: Pyrrhic Victory**

As the words left Estelle's mouth, she soon found herself losing consciousness as she received a sharp punch into her stomach. For some reason however, despite her eyes being closed, she could still see the surroundings around her…

The man then looked around at the site of his entertainment. He was disappointed as they seemed to lack the power that Yuri managed to show despite his tired state back at the desert.

Of course, the main powerhouses of Yuri's party weren't here as of now and the genius herself seems to be still trying to adapt to her makeshift blastia.

The man then looked over at the calm water which once again submerged the ruins. Despite knowing that no human could possibly survived _that,_ he was pretty sure Yuri is still alive in one way or another. After all, he didn't let the man live if he wasn't entertaining – that and he had potential to do what no one else he has faced could possibly do.

Looking over the unconscious form of the Child of the Full Moon, he slowly crouched down to the princess, until he sensed a large sound over at the forest.

Quickly turning his head to the source of the sound, he sensed that his Remnant was doing battle again. Did the old man survive the attack? Or had someone joined in the fray?

As if answering his questions, he sensed killer intent directed at him and quickly jumped away from the Child of the Full Moon… just in time to dodge a sword aimed at where his neck has been a few seconds ago.

To his surprise Yuri was standing there, glaring with him. By his side was his trusty dog Repede.

"I'm surprised that you managed to get out that quickly from the depths of the ocean Yuri Lowell." The man said in a tone which indicated he was clearly amused. _Yes Yuri Lowell... show me the power of the one that can be possibly achieve my dream!_

Yuri said nothing. Instead, he unsheathed his weapon and whispered a quiet command to Repede. Without hesitating, Repede brought the injured members and Estelle to a clearing away from Yuri's current location.

"You're not getting away this time." Yuri silently muttered at the opponent. The voice was so silent it seemed as if Yuri was talking to himself, but the man smirked as if he understood what he said.

**Somewhere at the other side of the Island: (5:20PM)**

"Argh!"

Flynn was sent flying back as he was impacted by the Remnants tail. Flynn was fighting alone against the Remnant while Judith tended to Raven's wounds. By the looks of it, Raven seemed to have been directly hit by a fireball as his whole body was scorched.

Flynn righted himself at midair and sent a Demon Fang towards the remnant as soon as he made contact to the ground. The Demon Fan pierced the aura of the Remnant, but apparently reacted quickly enough so it didn't actually hit the body.

Flynn took this opportunity and leaped at the Remnant. He expected the Remnant to go up, after all they did at the desert at taking one Remnant down, he must of course got several ideas of taking one down.

Flynn immediately leaped into the air as the Remnant was distracted of the Demon Fang, he immediately delivered a vertical slash towards the head of the Remnant.

The Remnant apparently noticed this but reacted a second too late and received a slash that cleaved part of its neck and cut off the left wing. Not only that, the blade was searing hot as if it was imbued with fire, leaving the wound of the Remnant burnt.

After landing at the ground, Flynn wasted no time and imbued his weapon once again with Fire, "Dragon Swarm!"

A flurry of slashes impacted the Remnant, and as the last hit made contact, the Remnant slowly faded away from existence.

Taking a moment to collect himself and confirm that the Remnant is indeed gone, he turned and headed to Judith and Raven.

Crouching down, to the lying form of Raven, Flynn observed that Raven had several burn wounds but none that seemed life threatening.

"I'll tend to his wounds Flynn." Judith said bringing Flynn out of his observations. "I'm guessing that Yuri is currently in a fight himself."

Flynn stood up and nodded. "Understood."

With those words, Flynn went straight to the location where the sound of a sword fight came from.

**Near Baul: (5:25PM)**

Yuri's made a vertical slash using his left hand; the sword however was blocked by the man's long sword. Thinking quickly, Yuri grabbed his scabbard and tried to make a vertical slash towards the man's rib. The man however used his right hand to grab the scabbard stop it at its place.

Yuri gritted his teeth, and tried to kick the man, but the man jumped backwards gracefully, lading a few feet away from him.

"In a hurry to end this battle so quickly Yuri?" The man casually asked.

Yuri didn't respond but rather, sent a glare at the man… then Yuri disappeared from his position.

The man immediately narrowed his eyes, and swung his sword to his left. The sword made impact with Yuri's sword, but Yuri himself wasn't there.

In the next instant, Yuri appeared directly behind him, "Lone Wolf!"

A beast like aura blasted the man towards the forest clearing, hitting a tree, causing it to fall due to the sheer impact.

Once the smoke cleared, the man was standing with only dust and splinters covering his clothing. Aside from that, the man was relatively unharmed.

"Nice attack Yuri… but it seems I have to go now." The man said. "My minion seems to have faded away and it's about time I search for the last piece… for I know you would keep the one you have right now until it's 'ripe for the taking'."

"Tiger Blade!"

The voice ringed out as the man moved forward, avoiding the rising strike of the blade and sidestepped to avoid the descending strike. The man then lashed out by imbuing his fist with a Fire Ball and blasting it towards the attacker.

Flynn, acting quickly, pivoted and used his shield to take the incoming blow. An explosion took place and Flynn was sent sliding backwards a few feet. As the smoke cleared the man was nowhere to be found.

"Damn…" Yuri picked up his sword and sheathed it. Taking a look at the current state of his friends, his hand unconsciously clenched and immediately went to their aid. Flynn followed suit.

**Island Beach Area: (6:30PM)**

Judith was extremely worried with Baul's current state. Baul was unconscious and was seemingly close to death. Using everything she knew about her partner, she set out to heal her partner.

Aside from the party that went to obtain the fragment, everyone was knocked unconscious in some form. Karol seemed to be having a hard time to breathe, which Flynn suspected to be damage to the rib cage. Luckily though, the lungs weren't pierced. Rita on the other hand had a head concussion as it seemed she hit the walls of the 'ship' (what Baul uses to carry them) hard. Raven was heavily singed with several first degree and second degree burns, he was somehow able to avoid the full brunt of the attack, but it was clear he didn't avoid it enough to prevent himself from losing consciousness. Estelle surprisingly, only received one form of physical pain which was through the punch that sent her unconscious, what was strange however, was that there were weird markings at the area which Judith deduced to be a seal.

If Estelle was indeed affected by a seal, they wouldn't know what kind of affect it would have until Estelle awakened, if ever she did (after all they had no idea what the seal did).

Seeing as they were probably going to be spending some time on the island due to their unconscious friends and their unconscious ride, Judith and Flynn took turns attending to the wounded while Yuri and Repede took care of food and water. Yuri was feeling extremely guilty for his inability to protect his friends, so he remained stoic and hunted for food without uttering a word ever since he gave out orders of who will do what.

Despite that a madman was out there looking for the next fragment, Yuri, Flynn, and Judith did not think much about it as they were currently powerless to do anything but tend to their injured friends.

**The Following Day… (5:00AM)**

Estelle was the first to wake up out of all the others. She found herself covered with a blanket next to a burnt out firewood.

As she looked around, she found that Flynn was leaning on a tree sleeping, Judith was leaning on Baul, Rita, Raven and Karol were asleep on blankets. Yuri on the other hand, was sitting on his own looking towards the rising sun. It seemed like he was the one that kept watch.

Slowly walking over to his side, Yuri turned to face her with a somewhat sleepy face.

"Hey."

"What happened?" Estelle asked, though it sounded more like a whisper as she realized that her throat was parched.

"Ah, right…" Yuri then grabbed a water jug at his belt and tossed it to Estelle. "That's some of the water I picked up from a lake near the center of this island. I just brought some of it along since I guessed that you'd all be pretty thirst once you all wake up… Anyway as to what happened, it'd be best if we wait for everyone to wake up. I don't want to explain everything once again."

Estelle could merely nod as she drank the content of the water jug.

"What did that person do to you Estelle?" Yuri asked firmly. "As I understand it, he did something to how you handle aer."

_It's like the aer itself is avoiding her..._

"…yeah. I know that the spirits are still in me but… I can't sense them." Estelle then looked away from Yuri feeling useless at her current state.

"Don't worry." Was all Yuri said as he started to trek into the forest presumably to get more water. "We'll find a way to remove that seal. Just don't feel bad about not being able to help. If it bothers you that much, then do what you can do even if it's minimal compared to what you can do before."

Yuri continued to walk into the forest to hopefully get some water into his now empty water jug. He was still furious about his failure to protect his friends a few days ago, but at least they managed to obtain one of the pieces. Yuri was still hoping that somehow the last piece of the Star Crystal was safe, but as the day wore on, this was becoming a dim notion. They had to get out of the island quickly. They had very limited gels left and even if they can last weeks or even months here due to the numerous places to obtain food and water, they couldn't afford another attack by that _man._

Shaking his head to focus at the task at hand, he also had to explain what happened and what he did. There's no doubt that Flynn and Judith doesn't know that there's something about him than what meets the eye, and he was also thinking that Rita had a small idea but she was probably trying to find more proof. Things were really getting stressful, with a sigh he just wished that they would hopefully forget. He didn't want to explain his current predicament that would cause a whole amount of worry upon his friends. This was the main reason why he wanted to do this alone. Another problem that he has to face is that _if_ the said monster of legend was to be unleashed there would be nothing he could do about it. And his only chance of winning or even hurting the monster had long shattered due to the over use of said weapon – there was another way, but the chances of actually killing the said legendary monster with his strength alone was plain impossible.

The current state of his friends was something that he really wanted to avoid, hence the reason why he started his one man crusade towards the leader of the Remnants. For some reason however, he somehow felt that his friends involvement in this current threat was unavoidable. This of course was making him hesitate whether he should just finish of the leader of the Remnants or interrogate him (which he knows is impossible) as to his reasoning of his actions. Yuri's gut feeling was just telling him that there was something off with the man that he seems to know a lot more than anyone. He somehow gave off the same feeling as a certain white haired man – albeit, more pronounced.

Yuri submerged his water jug at the lake and filled it to the brim with water. Shaking the water jug to make sure it was completely filled, Yuri then capped it and decided to walk back to where Flynn and Judith were.

Whether he liked it or not, he needed to pay a certain white haired man a visit.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Thank you for all those that have reviewed since the last update!

As for the title of the chapter... sure they won, but in the end, it prevented them from doing anything for the time being and the rest of the party (minus the ones that were awake or who awakened) are unconscious and can't exactly be healed by Estelle. Not to mention that they all got stranded in an island with no evident help.

I'm sorry I couldn't update sooner, a lot of things was just stuffed at the last few weeks before final exams and caused me so much stress… That aside, my laptop broke limiting my ability to update or even write my fan fiction even when I'm not at home. This is probably my last update for the year of 2010, but I might update again if I feel motivated (otherwise the next update would be at the year of 2011).

Ok as far as things that are happening this chapter, this chapter and the chapter after it (unless I change my mind) would pretty much serve as the recovery chapter and an explanation chapter for the characters (there's a high chance that there's going to be another Interlude soon… who that person is you'd have to wait for). I'm going to try and slow down the pace and eventually build it up for the final battle. Though I'm saying this now, this doesn't mean I'm nowhere near ending this fan fiction. There's a lot of things that needs to be explained and …done (I can't say much otherwise it'd be spoiling the plot).

As to why the enemy that Yuri fought would not go back and fight Yuri's Party until he found the last fragment, it's mainly because he knows that Yuri has it. Unlike the other fragment, the fragment that Yuri has can easily be located and all they need to do is fight for it, the last fragment would probably have some protection over it and not to mention that it hasn't exactly been located yet. Keep in mind what you've seen in this chapter regarding the man that Yuri has fought. As for the name of the man, it would be revealed later – there's a reason why I'm holding it back.

So thank you for those that have reviewed and read this fan fiction. Reviews and Constructive Criticism is highly appreciated!


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